I’ve been hearing a lot about Jenny Scheinman over the last few years. A regular at Barbes, the cozy and eclectic music club and bar on 9th Street off of Sixth Avenue in park Slope, she always garners raves from the press and fans for her improvised violin playing. Now she’s come out with an album of folk and blues. I heard something about it on WNYC this morning. And something in the Times’ too. She’s definitely having her media moment:
One evening last month, the violinist Jenny Scheinman settled in for her customary early set at Barbès, the cozy Park Slope bar that has long been her second home. Though she has been heralded over the last five years as a venturesome improviser, her first number was a vocal feature, “I Was Young When I Left Home,” one of many traditional songs associated with the young Bob Dylan. Ms. Scheinman, cradling her violin in the crook of an elbow, sang in a clear, agreeable tone, with a hint of nasal twang.
She wasn’t dabbling in this air of rusticity. The song appears on her self-titled new album, along with tunes by Jimmy Reed and Mississippi John Hurt and a handful of originals. Released by Koch Records two weeks ago, the album presents Ms. Scheinman as a folk singer. She took the same stance at Barbès, as she will again on Wednesday night at Joe’s Pub, with a band that includes the album’s producer and guitarist, Tony Scherr.