Event | UVA Arts

Urban folk songwriter Jen Chapin returns with a cabaret-style performance weaving jazz-inspired questions, political insight, and poetic storytelling.

On Thursday July 24th, The Charlottesville Jazz Society and WTJU welcome vocalist and songwriter Jen Chapin back to Charlottesville after a long absence.

For this concert at Belmont Arts Collaborative, Jen Chapin, accompanied by GRAMMY© nominated bassist Stephan Crump and “impeccable melodist” (New York Times) Jamie Fox on electric guitar, will debut a new cabaret-style performance of her urban folk songs entitled Anything Goes, and How Did We Get Here? The two-set show weaves historically- informed, jazz-inspired questions and answers about our current and rapidly-changing political moment, around old and new selections from Jen’s critically-acclaimed urban folk catalog. Charlottesville audiences were treated to a solo bass performance by Jen’s amazing bass playing husband Stephan Crump at The Front Porch last year. Guitarist Jamie Fox is less well-known but equally talented and a perfect foil for Jen and Stephan.

"With songs delivered in a style that ranges from tender fragility to unexpected steeliness, Chapin brings a jazzy edge to the folk form. Sometimes she explores a fleeting emotion, sometimes she weaves a solid narrative—not at all surprising from the daughter of Harry Chapin, a master musical storyteller.” - The New Yorker Jen Chapin has been celebrated for writing soulfully poetic folk music performed with her stellar jazz trio for three decades. Nurtured in and around NYC by a large family of artists, writers, and musicians, Jen's “observant, politicly aware and emotionally intuitive songwriting showcases her extraordinary voice in a sympathetic jazz setting. The roots of Jen's upbringing have inspired her songs and a lifetime of passionate activism, through ongoing work with WhyHunger (founded by her late father Harry Chapin), and teaching high school global history in Brooklyn.