Jennifer Knapp Attracted The Attention Of Nashville Label Gotee Records

JENNIFER KNAPP

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As an incredibly active performer, Jennifer Knapp has already shared the stage with many greats, including several peers during dates she did on the last Lilith Fair tour.

In the 120 shows she performed in 2001, Knapp impacted almost a million individuals.

This makes it no surprise that Pollstar Magazine included her among its Top 50 touring acts

of the Winter/Spring 2001 season.

Coupled with extensive touring, Knapp proved herself as a folk-inspired rock artist whose masterful stroke paints introspective portraits of life's bumpy road.

Song after song, she empties her soul through catchy poetic lyrics that utter the precise words so many hearts have long struggled to find.

Jennifer Knapp (born April 12, 1974 in Chanute, Kansas) is a Grammy nominated, Dove Award-winning Christian folk rock musician.

She is most well known for her first hit single "Undo Me" from the album Kansas and "A Little More" from her Grammy - nominated Album Lay It Down. Her most critically acclaimed album The Way I AM was also nominated for a Grammy.

Jennifer Knapp was brought up irreligiously in Chanute, Kansas. As a classically-trained performer Knapp played trumpet in high school, and attended Pittsburg State University on a music scholarship.

It was there that fellow students inspired her to open her mind to spiritual matters and eventually incorporate them into her music.

From there, Knapp began performing throughout the Midwest selling her two custom recordings at shows. Her second indie album, Wishing Well, attracted the attention of Nashville label Gotee Records, who signed her the following year.

Kansas, her critically acclaimed debut release, was received widely and eventually sold over 500,000 copies, becoming Gold certified by the RIAA.

Today she has sold over One-million CD's from three releases. She began touring America, singing primarily in churches, but has also appeared at festivals such as the 1999 Lilith Fair, and at large venues.

Jennifer's approachability before and after shows is merely an affirmation of the feeling one gathers about her from her music

For Lay It Down, her 2000 release, she began moving toward a mainstream sound. This release garnered a Grammy Award nomination in 2001. She also gained a Grammy nomination for her third release The Way I Am.

In addition to her own releases, she has collaborated with a number of artists on various studio projects and releases.

Alabaster Arts was the company that Jennifer co-founded with her manager/business partner Steve Thomas early on in her career. Yet in early September 2001 right before the release of the highly anticipated The Way I Am Jen split with the company. Steve Thomas said that the reasons for Jen's decision were "personal to her and would remain that way."

In an interview from the January/February 2004 issue of Relevant Magazine, Jennifer Knapp stated that she was taking a break from music for a while, leaving the future of her career in God's hands.

"It was definitely time for a break," she said. "I was touring Lay It Down while recording The Way I Am, then went directly into touring that record.

It got to where I was just doing shows to support the record, rather than having a record support the heart of the people I was supposed to be serving.

I don't want to make and tour another record just because that's what people expect, or because 'it's about that time.'"

Knapp gave no indication of when new material will surface. "Truly, no plans and no promises of when," she said.

"At this time there's really not enough material, and I don't want to force anything just for the sake of getting a record finished."

Jennifer Knapp said she's leaving the future of her career in God's hands. She's still overwhelmed at what opportunities she's already had, but she's not eager to return to the road life anytime soon.

"The last seven years have been beyond my ability to imagine," she said. "[This] has been the road that God has afforded me the option of traveling. Where that road leads, only -- and truly only -- He knows."

Rumors circulated and many believe that Jen left her label Gotee and CCM behind, yet it has never been stated. Jennifer Knapp is still listed as an artist on Gotee Records' web page.

Gotee has continued to release albums using material of Jen's, including The Collection in which she left a final note to her beloved fans in the CD jacket and a LIVE album produced and put together by her former guitarist Mark Lee Townsend.

On February 26, 2008, Gotee Records re-issued a 10th anniversary edition of Kansas with re-mastered and additional tracks, including "Calvolicious" and "Boulder City is Pretty".

Knapp recorded The Way I Am at New York City’s The Power Station, the historic studio that birthed landmark albums by artists like Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Mariah Carey, the Ramones, the Rolling Stones, and Eric Clapton.

Knapp's perspective on songwriting and the sheer honesty of her music led to an impressive collection of contributors within the studio's hallowed halls.

Taking the production helm was Tony McAnany (Madonna, Missy Elliott, Sinead O'Connor). He and Jennifer led a host of all-star players that included strings maestro Jeremy Lubbock (Michael Jackson, Madonna, Barbra Streisand), drummer Vinnie Cauliuta (Sting, Frank Zappa), bassist Tony Levin (Tracy Chapman, Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, Paula Cole), programming whiz David Hentschel (Elton John, Genesis), and guitarist Nick Moroch (Vanessa Williams, David Sanborn, The BeeGees).

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