Singer/songwriter Mason Jennings blends the deeply personal insights of a poet, the political broadsides of a protest singer, and the broad musical eclecticism of a jazz musician with the passion and commitment of a rock & roller. The result has made him one of the most talked-about new artists on the acoustic music scene and earned him a loyal cult following, moving over 30,000 copies of his first two albums and selling out shows around the country without the benefit of a major-label publicity department. Jennings was born in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1975. When he was young, his father moved to Minneapolis, MN, and young Mason, already interested in music, would occasionally get tapes from his father of bands who were storming the then-fertile Twin City music scene. When he was 13, Jennings picked up a guitar and starting writing songs. Three years later, Jennings decided a career in music was what he wanted and he dropped out of school to move to Minneapolis and work on his songs full-time. At 19, he'd already attracted the attention of a major booking agency and was receiving offers from record companies, but Jennings was more interested in a situation that would offer him creative freedom not a fast influx of cash. In time, Jennings retreated to his apartment and began working on his first album, which he recorded and scrapped four times before he finally came up with a set of songs with which he was fully satisfied. Featuring just Jennings and his guitar, Mason Jennings was also produced and released solely by the artist himself. The album proved to be a potent calling card for Jennings; it received significant airplay on local radio stations, and Jennings began playing a Thursday night residency at Minneapolis' 400 Bar, which soon won him a potent local fan base. Before long, Jennings began gigging with bassist Robert Skoro and drummer Chris Stock, and the Mason Jennings Band began work on his second album when Jennings contracted mononucleosis and was forced to take six months off from performing and recording. Once Jennings recovered, he opted to scrap the set of live favorites he'd begun to record and instead cut a set of new (and often strongly political) numbers for his second album, Birds Flying Away. More gigging followed, but drummer Chris Stock was unable to reconcile the rigors of touring with his personal life and he amicably left the group, with Brazilian jazz musician Edgar Oliveira taking over the percussionist's spot. Jennings' continued roadwork added to the enthusiasm of his fans and the positive press he received for his first two albums, and for this third release, 2002's Century Spring, he finally found a proper record company to release his product, Architect Records, and signed a distribution deal with established East Coast indie label Bar/None Records, which also issued Use Your Voice in 2004. The next year, Jennings joined as the first artist on Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock's Epic imprint, Glacial Pace, who then released Boneclouds in 2006. ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide