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Jess Godwin Releases New CD
in Atlanta, Chicago, New York

2010 June 13

Jess Godwin

Jess Godwin may not be known as a singing sensation now, but just you wait.

She’s been playing music circuits in New York, Chicago and Atlanta the past year and has been playing piano and singing since she was a tyke.

To celebrate the release of her new CD “Quiet the Room,” she will play gigs in all three cities this month.

Godwin recorded the CD under the watchful eye of Jan Smith, the Atlanta vocal coach and consultant to numerous stars, including Usher, Keyshia Cole and American Idol runner-up Diana DeGarmo.

Godwin pens her own lyrics and music, which is peppered with flavors of R&B, pop and rock-style show tunes.

A classically trained singer and pianist, Godwin writes with a poetic and humorous flair. In “Too Late For Love,” she chirps like a bird: “I try to be coy, I try to be calm and collected, I come off neurotic . . . I beg you to deprecate me.”

Her catchy tunes and lyrics are memorable and contain scenarios that many of us have pondered. “Three Weeks Shy” asks, “Did you forget my number, Did you run out of minutes? Did I come off as boring? Was it something I said? If I had worn the blue dress, if I ordered the burger, would you have called me?”

Although the red-headed vixen has been compared to Regina Spektor, Alicia Keys and Norah Jones, Godwin has a sound all her own. Whether she is belting out a tune or singing in falsetto where her high notes soar like a smooth slow wave at sea, she comes across like a star.

Godwin studied classical music at Vanderbilt University and obtained a degree in theater from Columbia College Chicago.

Upon graduation, Godwin worked in numerous theaters around the Windy City, including Steppenwolf, the launching pad for Laurie Metcalf, John Malkovich and Gary Sinise. Godwin’s agent got her auditions in New York where she won a role in Rodgers’ and Hammerstein’s show “Carousel” in one of the country’s premier theaters, the Long Wharf in New Haven, Conn. While performing there, she realized that she needed to go back to her true love: playing and performing her original tunes.

Her first CD, titled “Jess Godwin,” is a three-song sampler of her music. “Quiet the Room” contains four songs and was created in hopes of attracting a recording contract.

Godwin plays Morseland in Chicago June 13, Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta June 15 and The Bitter End in New York July 16. For more information on upcoming gigs and to listen to her music, visit jessgodwin.com.

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