The Jesse Greene Band

Meet Ottawa's newest blues sensation: Jesse Greene is the 27-year-old frontwoman of her own band, a dark-haired gal with a soulful voice, killer chops on electric guitar and a knack for songwriting. Jesse Greene is only 27, but she fronts a sizzling band that won the right to represent Ottawa at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis.
Greene and her bandmates delivered a sizzling set at Tucson's a few weeks back, playing their way to triumph in the Ottawa Blues Society's annual On the Road To Memphis competition. To their surprise, Greene and her bandmates beat out respected veterans of the local scene, including the Drew Nelson Band and Mumbo Jumbo Voodoo Combo.

The purpose of the blues-band showdown was to select an act to represent Ottawa in the International Blues Challenge. Touted as the world's largest gathering of blues acts, the Blues Challenge takes place in Memphis in January and attracts labels, agents, festival directors and promoters from several continents.

Greene was delighted to win. The blues society will help the band raise money to travel to the Tennessee gathering, where Greene hopes to get on the radar of the blues bigshots. "It's super-beneficial to the band," she says. "Basically, we get to schmooze with people and play. I'm thrilled about it."

She has big footsteps to follow. Last year's Ottawa entry, MonkeyJunk, left the delegates buzzing in Memphis. The trio of Steve Marriner, Tony D and Matt Sobb came in third out of a field of more than 100 acts. They went on to release a hot debut CD, Tiger in Your Tank, and have been gigging steadily ever since.

In the months leading up to last year's showdown, MonkeyJunk developed its swamp-boogie style during regular Sunday-night gigs at Irene's. When they got too busy to keep it up, Greene and her band took over the weekly gig, sending it into electric blues territory. The joint was rocking last Sunday -- the student-aged crowd left their pitchers of beer on the tables and jumped up to dance. (Greene and her band are off for the long weekend but return to Irene's Oct. 18).

Greene grew up in the Parkdale area, the daughter of artsy parents who both play guitar. Her grandfather taught her to sing harmony as a child, and she was a member of the Ottawa Central Choir. She studied classical piano until she was 14, when she says "it got overwhelming and stressful." She picked up the guitar around the age of 12. At Canterbury, Ottawa's arts high school, Greene studied drama instead of music.

Later in her teens, Greene moved to Perth with her then-boyfriend and began busking in the picturesque town. She was also writing her own songs, and had developed an interest in blues. One day, a musician approached and invited her to join the worldbeat band, Jokko, where she learned how to make an audience dance. Before she assembled her own band, Greene also played a weekly gig at the Rainbow Bistro with Frank and Jesse James.

These days, Greene teaches guitar and ukulele at the Ottawa Folklore Centre, and also works retail shifts at the Bank Street music store. It adds up to six days a week, plus gigging, and there isn't much time for recording on what she calls her "one glorious day off."

Still, she hopes to cobble together a decent recording in time for the trip to Memphis. There are plenty of original songs in her set, and they've been fully roadtested. What inspires her songwriting? "Oh, it's usually heatbreak or suffering or something like that," she says. "I just tap into whatever's already there."

© Copyright (c) Lynn Saxburg - The Ottawa Citizen
- The Ottawa Citizen