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Jeanne Kuhns
Jeann Kuhns is a singer, performing with her brother Roger Kuhns in some of the Door County and Green Bay coffee houses. She is also a water color artist, with works on display at the Fine Line gallery in Sister Bay.
SHE WROTE THE SONG
By Sheila Sabrey-Saperstein
Jeanne was one of the best-kept secrets in Door County for several years while she was raising a family and working as a nurse. She had sung all through High School as part of a folk duet in the Chicago suburbs and sang and acted in college while performing with brother Roger at folk concerts throughout the Midwest.
This new career of hers began when, "…I came up to the White Gull in Fish Creek for a winter concert and saw Annie Hill and I was very much drawn back into singing from that point on. I borrowed a guitar and started playing again, just for myself, and started working on my voice". Roger moved back to Door County from Africa where he had been working and performing. "He asked me if I would like to sing together again. He had a wealth of original material that I loved and it was just like magic singing with him after all those years. We grew up very close and I think our connection helps our music. Since then we have played all over the county. We had a concert at Third Avenue Playhouse, did a Fireside Coffee House night at the Door Community Auditorium, and had a regular Saturday gig at The Bridge coffee house in Egg Harbor for over two years. We are now starting to branch out and have added drummer Rich Brophy to our band."
And now, nine years after that Annie Hill concert, Jeanne is introducing her first CD of original music, half are her compositions and half are Roger's. "This CD experience has been wonderful,” Jeanne said. “I've learned tons about myself and how I want to present myself as a singer/songwriter. I selected seven of my own compositions and seven of Rogers that especially spoke to me. With Roger's songs, I gave them my own interpretation, I made them mine."
The CD was recorded at Roger's recording studio in Jacksonport. "He is so amazing and I am so thankful for his talent and his friendship and I am so grateful to all the others who played with me,” Jeanne said. “It was quite wonderful to have my son Eli playing a song I had written for the both of us. It is the first song I ever wrote, so it's very emotional for me to sing it with him."
Jeanne talked about the kind of music she sings. "My roots are in folk music and I love the everyman quality about it, but I am leaning away from that style now. Roger writes wonderful story-songs and ballads and really funny songs that we sing. In our group "Allegory" we are doing all original material. I started writing my songs last year and they are heading more into blues-rock type stuff. My musical heroes are Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Etta James, Aretha Franklin and Carol King. I really like a good beat and like to move while I sing.”
“I take the opportunity in my music to say things that I feel strongly about. I am very grounded in nature, in my view of the world as an artist and in my role as a single mother,” Jeanne said. “I care about this earth we live on, this county we live in so I write about the experiences I've had: the ups and downs of relationships, cares and concerns about our world, the difficult times I have gone through with my children and most especially about my becoming a strong woman who can stand up for myself…finally. I so want to offer hope to people who have been through abusive relationships, to show them that there is strength in them selves they can find. I guess it's the human spirit that so astounds me; the resilience and ability to move on as a new and improved soul! I also like to bring a bit of laughter into my music. I am working on that."
Jeanne's music is a major source of income for her over the last few years and she'd like to keep it that way. "I feel alive when I am singing! I just spent time in Minneapolis and sang at a coffee house over there so I am willing to travel a bit. I sang alone there and felt good about doing it. It was fun for me to be able to organize the songs my way in order to present the most emotional impact, but it is more fun to sing with others! I'd like to be singing every weekend somewhere within a half day’s ride. I know Roger and Rich are committed to this too. I want to keep writing, I have lots of songs in my head, and am working hard on my guitar skills so I can play better. When my youngest son Jacob leaves the nest I will be willing to be a gypsy for part of the year. I love exploring the world and I love coming home."
Today, Jeanne is back in a place where she can pursue the things she loves to do. "I'm getting a late start after some tough years, but I am making up for all that now. I have things to say and the songs I've written have been because I've learned something." She is her own woman with her own style, a survivor, an interpreter of life from a unique perspective, an actress, singer, songwriter for the times. She walks in beauty and in the light. You'll know who she is when you hear her sing, "Riverbed".
Jeanne Kuhns, Roger Kuhns & Rich Brophy's band Allegory
