Jill Hennessy

I Do is primarily a collection of stories about love and relationships - the beauty and the pain and the sacrifice between any two people in love... be it husband/wife, mother/child or child/parent. I Do explores the beauty and struggles of marriage, while many other songs (Marsha G, Aimee, Digging My Own Grave, Cross the River and Heaven) deal with the seismic upheaval and pain of losing that love. The beauty lies in finding faith in something invisible that can sustain us and remaining hopeful that love never fades away... it always endures. Edmonton explores the sacrifices made by every immigrant leaving their homeland to find a better life and future for their family.” “I LOVE YOU IS NOT SO SIMPLE... BUT I DO”

Jill wrote all the songs for her second album, I Do, in 2011 and 2012 and produced/recorded the album in Austin, TX. I Do features many of the musicians from the first album with the stellar addition of Kym Warner, Mandolin (The Green Cards), Will Sexton, Guitars and the legendary Dony Wynn (Robert Palmer) on drums. I Do is more percussively oriented and focused on themes of transition, loss and growth. Mixed by the “bullet-proof” Sean Beavan (Guns N’ Roses, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails), it continues and progresses both lyrically and sonically from where Ghost In My Head left off. At I Do’s heart is the ability to find hope and love despite struggle and loss.

After listening to Jill’s second album:Dave Marsh from Sirius XM Radio wrote, “Jill’s raised her own standard, and delivered completely on things that were maybe only a promise on the first record. The songs are as deep and beautiful as always... Such a command of good songs! Brava!”

Greg Calbi from Sterling Sound wrote, “Jill’s album is the kind of
record we all love, but get so little of these days. Intimate and powerful vocals, head-jogging lyrics and a killer band. Jill is most obviously a musician who acts, not an actress who has a band. Furthermore, this album was recorded and mixed so expertly and carefully that the intensity of her impressive band never obscures the vocals. Any drummers hearing this record will truly de drooling.”

Though perhaps best known as an actress for her starring roles in the hit television series "Law & Order" and "Crossing Jordan," Jill Hennessy began her show business career as a musician, busking in the streets of Toronto. Jill wrote the songs comprising her debut album Ghost In My Head in a particularly prolific period from 2005-2007. Drawn from, or inspired by,
personal experiences -- some direct, some tangential, some metaphorical -- the songs on Ghost In My Head are bone-marrow direct, honest and spectral. The album was recorded at Austin's legendary Bismeaux Studio, with a core ensemble of incredibly simpatico musicians for the album (as well as for her live performances): Robbie Gjersoe, lead guitar (the Flatlanders, Jimmie Dale Gilmore); Brian Standefer, cello (Alejandro Escovedo, James McMurtry); Bukka Allen, accordion, keyboards (Terry Allen, the Flatlanders, the BoDeans); Glenn Fukunaga, bass (Jo Carol Pierce, Los Super Seven); and Rob Affuso, drums (Skid Row). Dave Marsh from Sirius XM Radio wrote “Ghost In My Head would be an impressive achievement if it came from someone who’d made a lot of records. As a debut, it’s startling—the bold singing, the edgy arrangements, the precisely phrased lyrics, the unflinching stories that gaze with equal insight upon beleaguered strangers and the people she loves best. These songs feel to me like the work of an artist who sees life whole: tragedy in a phone booth, beauty in the scars”.