Modern folk singer-songwriter Jessica Smucker takes on heavy themes of death and inner strength on her new song ‘Phoenix‘. Despite the darker subject matter, Smucker provides a vivid synthesizer-based melody that reflects the strong inner purpose of the woman she once met who was facing her imminent mortality. Smucker’s ever evolving storytelling is backed with a steady beat that barely wavers as the verses merge with the chorus, making for a bracing and hypnotic homage.
The song will be released digitally on March 11, 2022.
The song was produced by Chad Kinsey, mixed by Peter Rydberg at Studio 1935 and mastered by Dan Coutant at Sun Room Audio. “Phoenix” features Kinsey on guitars, Matt Thomas on synthesizers, piano and orchestrations, Mike Bitts on bass and Paul Murr on drums and percussion.
The fiery lyric video was created by Haley Monson.
Says Smucker: “A few years ago I met a woman whose terminal cancer diagnosis had led her to find her life’s purpose. She was a civil rights advocate and social justice warrior, and she was living her best life while also dying. I was moved by her story to write a song about the power struggle between life and death, how we tend to think of them as adversaries but ultimately they’re two parts of the same whole.”
Presave the song here: https://dpg.ffm.to/jessicasmuckerphoenix
ABOUT JESSICA SMUCKER
Jessica Smucker believes that the best way to change the world is to channel our pain into connection. Her songs have a way of reaching deeply into people’s souls and inviting the kind of reflection that feels both reassuring and unsettling. Wrapped in catchy melodies, her lyrics appear simple and relatable on the surface, but each listen will uncover more hidden pockets of nuance. She’s the kind of writer and performer who can lull a noisy room into a hush with a single line.
Although Jessica cares deeply about big picture issues like social justice, she tends to write about life’s more intimate moments. How it feels to walk through an empty house after love has left it. The difference between carrying a child in the womb and mothering them in the world outside. The particular ways a happy marriage can slide into decline. The simultaneous rush and terror of falling in love. The way humans can hunger for things (like peace on earth, or God) we don’t even believe in. The tricks and techniques we all use to shield ourselves from the kinds of knowledge that might lead to pain.
Jessica is based in Lancaster, PA, very near the tiny rural town of Bird-in-Hand where she grew up. Two of her grandparents were born Amish, and she was raised in the Mennonite faith tradition – by a family full of storytellers, activists, adventurers, and pranksters. Although her town was small, the bigger world never seemed out of reach. She felt empowered to engage and explore it.
Jessica has toured nationwide, and performs regularly throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S. She has opened for Cheryl Wheeler, Susan Werner, and Bill Staines, and shared billing with Heather Maloney, Meghan Trainor, and the Stray Birds. Notable venues include the Tin Angel (Philadelphia), Godfrey Daniels (Bethlehem, PA), The Cellar Stage (Baltimore), Steel City Coffeehouse (Phoenixville, PA), World Cafe Live (Philadelphia), Muses in the Vineyard (Belvidere, NJ), Musikfest (Bethlehem, PA), and 30A Songwriters Festival (Santa Rosa Beach, FL). She has won or placed in numerous national songwriting contests including SolarFest’s Singer/Songwriter Showcase Competition, the Connecticut Folk Festival Song Competition, and the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest.
Her discography spans from 2008-2020 and includes two EPs and three full-length albums. The Sleeping World (2008), a self-titled EP released by Jessica’s first rock band, was recorded by Seventh Wave Studio in Harrisburg, PA. 2010 saw two releases, both recorded in Lancaster, PA basement studios: Reluctantly Yours (EP), a stripped-down acoustic recording featuring mostly piano, violins, and banjo; and This Broken Moment (LP), a full-band album released as Jessica Smucker & The Sleeping World. It wasn’t until she started working with producer Chad Kinsey in 2012 that Jessica really found her stride as a recording artist. Tumbling After (2014) was produced by Kinsey and features bassist Mike Bitts (The Innocence Mission), drummer Paul Murr (Jeffrey Gaines, Fauna Flora, Jackie Evancho), and guest vocals by Heather Maloney (appearing courtesy of Signature Sounds Recordings) and Keith Wilson (Movies With Heroes). Lucid Stories, Tentative Lies, recorded with the same production team, dropped in October 2020, followed by an irreverent Christmas single, “Let’s Get a Tree” in December.
In her life beyond music Jessica is a published poet and essayist, a social justice warrior, freakishly good at Scrabble, and mother to two of the smartest people she’s ever met in real life.
