Cover photo © 2024 Jake Smith

When you see Jenny Langer and Randy Jacobs perform as The Boneshakers, what strikes you immediately, (in addition to their profound musical talent), is their unique style and engaging chemistry.  Randy projects a calm demeanor but with suaveness, which is a combination only accomplished through decades of experience in the music industry.  (Audiences will likely remember him from the band Was (Not Was).)   Jenny has a million-dollar smile and a sexy confidence that draws the audience to her before they even hear her amazing vocals.  (Audiences will likely remember her from her band Moonshine Society and being a lead vocalist with The Ron Holloway Band.)

It is not surprising that Jenny is so comfortable performing, as she was onstage as early as age three, and even though she is still young, she has already performed in several successful bands.

“I was one of those pageant kids.  Because I’ve been on the stage for so long, I feel more like myself when I’m up there.  There’s something up there that is a comfort level to me.  I got into blues when I was still a teenager.  My dad was playing a lot of Janis Joplin and Led Zeppelin, and I started thinking what were they listening to when they were my age?  That was how I fell down the blues rabbit hole.  And then later, I was one of the very first DJs at Berklee’s internet radio station and had my own blues show.  I was working on my shows every day, and that gave me the opportunity to do deep dives of artists.”

Unlike most musicians who attended Berklee College of Music and realized later that they learned a lot about music, but almost nothing about the music industry itself, Jenny went there to study music business.

“I was there for music business, but I was there in the early 2000s, and the industry has changed so much that at least half of what I was taught is not even relevant anymore.  It was a great school, and I thought I was doing the smart thing, but I have had to continuously self-edify because everything flipped upside down once the Internet came into play.  When I left, I realized we did not have a single class on how to book yourself or how to make an EPK (electronic press kit), or what agencies expect of you.  That’s where self-edification comes in.  But my years at Berklee were incredible and the people you meet when you are there at a young age—they are so serious about music.  That’s really why you go to Berklee.”

Jenny learned even more at her first job, which was with Sonicbids.

“That’s the company that created the first standard for EPKs.  I was on a team that was working with Summerfest and South-by-Southwest—some of the biggest festivals and venues.  I would help set up the talent buyers with their listing, saying what they were looking for, so I got to have honest conversations with talent buyers.  I got to ask them what they were looking for and what they did not want to see.  I learned what you should not put out there—the importance of not having iPhone videos in your press packages.  You can be the best band on earth, but if you have terrible, fuzzy photos, you’re not going to be taken seriously.  Just stuff like that.  Things Berklee would never have taught us.  I definitely had a leg-up because I got that behind-the-scenes information, and I have been a booking agent since leaving Sonicbids.  I only left my full-time job as a booking agent two years ago when The Boneshakers touring schedule started to conflict.”

Jenny first became well-known to audiences (especially on the East Coast) with her band, Moonshine Society.  Their release “Sweet Thing” won the International Blues Challenge award for best-produced CD in 2020.

“When I was at Berklee, I had formed my own blues-rock band with some of my classmates.  That’s where I met Joe Poppen.  He had his own band, the Joe Poppen Band and we sometimes billed together.  When we graduated, we, along with Chris Brown, decided to move to DC together.  Joe and I decided to combine the two bands and do away with anybody’s name.  That’s why we called it Moonshine Society.  We assumed that whoever was coming in and out of the band, we’re just a society and they are society members.  So, we had Pete Ragusa on drums, from The Nighthawks.  The late, great, wonderful Barry Hart came after him.  And Ron Holloway has been a member of Moonshine Society.  We’ve had some incredibly talented people and I’ve been very lucky that folks have wanted to play with me in DC in that way.”

In addition to Moonshine Society, she was touring with other blues artists internationally such as harmonica player Charlie Sayles (including spearheading a three-month residency at The House of Blues and Jazz in Shanghai, China) and Memphis Gold.  Jenny is also a member of the Ron Holloway Band:

“I’ve known and worked with Ron in Washington, DC since 2013- First with Moonshine Society and then being invited into The Ron Holloway Band.  I have a lot to thank Ron for.  He’s introduced me to a history of incredible funk and jazz cuts that have shaped what I do as a vocalist.  Through him, I’ve sung with artists like Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Jimmy Vivino, Marcus King, George Porter, and more.  Ron even officiated my wedding!  We’re family.  His band has that incredible, deep, funk jam-band sound.  What RHB does is nothing like what Moonshine Society or The Boneshakers does, but it’s so fun—just so fun!  And, of course, he’s an icon.  It’s just great to be on the stage with him and make all that happen.  We are getting Ron in the studio with us in DC.  We’re going to have him play on a Boneshakers track for our next album.”

Jenny met Randy Jacobs when she went to Los Angeles to work with John Wooler (Founder of Point Blank Records, former Senior VP of Virgin Records) as the producer of Moonshine Society’s next album.

“John had been playing some Moonshine tracks on his radio show, so I reached out to him and told him that I was grateful that he had been listening to what we were doing.  He asked what I was doing now, and I told him I was writing for the next album.  He said, ‘Do you need a producer?’  I said, ‘F–k yes—John Wooler, please produce me!’  We got to talking and decided I would go to L.A. and he would have a house band that he put together for a few tracks.  I got to Steve Lukather’s Steakhouse Studios in North Hollywood, and the first person I saw there was Randy Jacobs.  I thought I might have walked into the wrong room.  I thought, ‘This isn’t a house band—this is Randy Jacobs of The Boneshakers!’  I recognized him because I had seen Mindi Abair and The Boneshakers at multiple festivals.  But I looked around and realized it was the only room.  We tracked everything live so fast.  I mean, without rehearsal, two or three takes and move on, two or three takes, move on.  The whole band live together.  It became really obvious there was a musical synergy, and I think we were all pretty surprised at how instant it was.  I remember at the end of the week Randy and John took me out to lunch and we had a conversation about how the music was going. One of them said that they had been talking and didn’t think I should take the tracks back to the East Coast.  They thought they were so different from Moonshine’s sound, so they said we should do a joint venture.  That’s when Randy invited me to become the new lead singer of The Boneshakers, and those tracks became our album One Foot In The Groove, which received airplay in the US, Australia, and Europe and went on to win two Wammie Awards.”

Randy Jacobs was born in San Francisco but raised in Detroit.  Like Jenny, he began professional gigs at an early age, by 13 years old was collaborating with leading Motown writers and producers and co-authored the Top-Five R&B hit, “Wide Receiver”.  Randy is a gifted guitarist who played for many years with the band Was (Not Was).  After they disbanded, Randy became a session player who was frequently in demand to record with artists like BB King, Bonnie Raitt, Seal, and more.

He also was a member of Soul Mission, a gospel R&B project that combined his talents with members such as Mavis Staples, Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper for one release.  Randy then started the band, The Boneshakers in 1996 with his Was (Not Was) former bandmate Sweetpea Atkinson, (who has since passed away).  Shortly before he connected with Jenny, Randy and The Boneshakers had just finished some lengthy touring with Mindi Abair.

“We did a joint thing with Mindi for a few years.  We had started by just doing a live record for fun.  It was not supposed to be anything else but that, but Mindi asked if we could do some more, and we said ok.  Sweetpea (Atkinson) had a record coming out, and we thought we’d do a joint package.  We played many fantastic festivals and concerts, but the music started to go into a different direction and strayed from soul blues and funk, which is what The Boneshakers originally were.”

Working with Jenny seems to have reignited Randy’s passion for The Boneshakers.  He explained what he found so captivating about Jenny’s singing.

“It’s deep.  It comes from way deep.  Like, when we are in the studio, it seems like the thing she is searching for is always what I’m searching for, and she always manages to find it.  I know she’s always going to dig deep for that magic thing.  She has a lot of style.  It’s unique that she understands funk, blues and R&B.  It’s a hard combination to find.  Most people don’t understand it.  They think they do, but it’s always about time and space, and she understands that.  You can hear it in her voice and the way she phrases things.  It’s a beautiful thing.  And it becomes especially important to have that much in your bag when you are performing live.  To be able to pull it out—that’s hard to come by.  A lot of people can sing, but they sing one thing.  They might be great at that one thing.  But when you sing fifteen songs in one night, if you are singing it exactly the same way, you’ll start to lose connection with people, even if the songs are great.”

Jenny recently moved from the Washington DC area to Nashville.

“DC had become very expensive, and Harrison (my husband) is an airline pilot so he can live anywhere.  I’m not in government and I’m not in high tech, so financially it made sense to leave DC.  Plus, every time I got to Nashville I was surrounded by a crazy high-level creativity and it’s incredibly inspiring.  I feel that push to be writing when I’m in a place like that.  It’s also a better hub for touring.  You’re more central for whatever direction you go.”

Jenny and Randy both expressed excitement about the new album, which is due to be released in Spring 2025.  It will have thirteen tracks plus bonus tracks, a mix of originals and cover songs.  There are multiple labels interested, and no decision as yet been made on the label.

“We have some special guests, including Bobby Rush, Charlie Musselwhite, Coco Montoya, Ron Holloway, John “Papa” Gros, Jimmy Carpenter, Don Was, Jon Gillutin, and more.  It is going to be equal parts blues and soul, with a little bit of funk edge and a couple surprises.  A really fun collection of work.  When we’re looking at songs, there is no fluff.  Every song is intentional.”

Randy stressed how important the lyrics of songs are to him.  He’s noticed a trend where musicians seem to have strayed away from the importance of good lyrics.

“It used to be about the song, but now it seems like it’s more about how this song is going to be for my guitar solo.  It’s a box that is happening.  That’s something this band is very conscious of—we’re about the songs.”

Jenny agreed with him, adding “We might have a song with no guitar solo and I’ll say to Randy that we should give him a solo and he’ll say, “No—it’s not needed for that song.”  Randy added, “Every single person on the stage sings.  (The current band make-up has Holly Montgomery on bass and Lessly Fisher, Jr. on drums.)  It’s a big deal live and on every record we will do three and four-part harmonies.”

When asked which song lyrics were the most meaningful to him, Randy acknowledged the work of another rather than selecting one of his own.  He indicated that a song first recorded by Jimmy Hall was the most meaningful to him.

“I didn’t write it, but lyrically, I love what’s happening in ‘Salty’.  You want life to always be sweet but sometimes it has to get salty for you to appreciate it.”

(For those who do not know the song, a few of the lyrics are as follows:  “You’ll never know about the joys in this life until you have to suffer. You’ll never know those fields of clover, until someone has run you over.  Things got to get a little bit salty to let you know that you’re still around. Things got to get a little bit salty to let you know how it’s going down.”)

Randy noted that he believes The Boneshakers follow the advice given to him by BB King.

“BB used to say that it is not supposed to be Mozart.  You have got a whole slew of those guys who are great, but do they really own anything they are playing?  Some of those blues rock guys are great, but they are playing just like people from the past.  You have to move it forward.  I would like to think that The Boneshakers are trying to move it forward.”

Jenny added one final note:

“I am very happy to be a part of the new generation of blues.  At the same time, it’s nice to be part of that bridge.  I don’t want to see this genre become less important or not recognized by generations after me because they weren’t paying attention to what [blues artists] are doing right now.  So, I do take what I do as an artist very seriously.  I think it’s very noble to be in the arts for that reason.”

See The Boneshakers live and you’ll soon see why Don Was said, “Randy Jacobs is one of the funkiest and most original guitar players on Earth,” and Jenny Langer has been called “a powerhouse singer…one to make you sit up and take notice.”  If you would like to learn a little more about Randy and Jenny’s version of blues-infused funk, rock and soul, check them out at www.officialboneshakers.com