Lauded by UK music reviewer Three Chords and the Truth as sounding like she was “…born to gypsy poets and raised by Emmylou Harris,” Asheville, North Carolina songstress Jane Kramer has garnered international recognition for the sultry, heartrending originality of her vocals and for the heavy-hitting lyrical eloquence of her songwriting.
With deep roots in the musical traditions, culture and lore of her beloved Appalachia, Kramer’s songs are introspective, gracefully gritty and fiercely memorable. They elegantly sweep listeners down the gravel roads and southern coastal highways, midnight truck stops and lonely motel rooms of “hard learning” and lead home to the wooded Blue Ridge Mountains with moving acceptance of our flawed human experience. Kramer’s live performances are equally as poignant and engaging; rich with accessible, warm, often hilarious storytelling and gracefully lifting the veil between audience and performer.
After a seven year stint as founding member, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter in the nationally-touring, Asheville-based all female Appalachian Folk outfit, The Barrel House Mamas from 2003-2010, Kramer recorded and released her first solo album, Break & Bloom, in Portland, Oregon in 2013. Following the February 2016 release of her acclaimed sophomore solo studio album, Carnival of Hopes, Kramer has been touring nationally and internationally, playing for sold-out audiences in listening rooms, theaters, pubs, festivals, living rooms and arts councils in support of the record. This has gained her a loyal following from Portland, Oregon to Scotland, U.K.
A social worker, former domestic violence crisis counselor and avid humanitarian, Kramer continues to perform and teach about the songwriting process in prisons, rescue missions, programs for at-risk youth, classrooms, hospitals and animal shelters, sharing her message of music as a powerful tool for healing, connection and compassion.
In April 2018, Kramer returned to the studio to record her third full-length album.
Valley of the Bones is a triumphant collection of original songs that illustrate and explore the expression human of love in all its various forms.
Tracked mostly live (including the vocal performances,) at Sound Temple Studios in Asheville, N.C., Kramer teamed up with her frequent collaborators: Free Planet Radio musicians River Guerguerian, Chris Rosser and two-time Grammy Award winner Eliot Wadopian; as well as Billy Cardine. The album also includes performances by Nicky Sanders of The Steep Canyon Rangers on violin and Asheville Symphony Orchestra musician Franklin Keel on cello.