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Batten the Hatches is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs. Originally self-released in 2005 by Youngs, it was reissued with the bonus track "Drinking Song" two years later by the Nettwerk label.

The track "Fuck Was I" was used in the first episode of the second season of the Showtime series Weeds, to illustrate a scene in which main character Nancy Botwin, a part-time marijuana dealer, discovers that her new lover is in fact a DEA agent. This appearance reportedly led to sales of the album increasing from between five and ten per week to between twenty and thirty per day.

The album was listed as one of Guardian Unlimiteds "Greatest Albums You've Never Heard" in a feature in November, 2006.

Personnel

Performance

*Jenny Owen Youngs – vocals, acoustic guitar, banjo, bass

*Oscar Chabebe – tabla

*Adam Christgau – drums

*Ronen Ben Codor – harmonium

*James Cucinotta – bass clarinet

*Willie Farr Jr. – electric guitar

*Andrew Futral – synthesizer

*Hawk – viola

*Chris Hembree – piano

*Cicero Jones – French horn

*Jordan McLean – flugelhorn

*Tim Petrochko – violin

*Patrick Petty – cello

*Andrew Platt – bass instrument

*Bess Rogers – flute, voice

*Dan Romer – bass, electric guitar, keys, voice

*Jon Samson – digital kittens

*Bob Pycior – violin

Recording

*Ronen Ben Codor – additional arrangements on track 11

*Andrew Futral – remix (track 12, reissued version), additional arrangements on tracks 3 & 5

*Jay Newland – mastering

*Dan Romer – production, engineering, arrangements, mixing

Release history

References

Artist/Band Information

Jenny Owen Youngs (born November 22, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter from Montclair, New Jersey.La Gorce, Tammy. , The New York Times, May 24, 2006. Accessed October 24, 2007. "To get it, Ms. Owen Youngs, 24, who shares an apartment in Montclair with a roommate, drives an hour northwest every weekday to Shanachie Records in Newton."

Music career

Youngs played the flute in elementary school and the tuba in junior high school. At 14, she began to play the guitar. She graduated from State University of New York at Purchase with a degree in studio composition.

Her album Batten the Hatches was self-released in 2005. In 2006, a song from that album, "Fuck Was I", appeared in the second season premiere of Showtime's Weeds, resulting in Batten the Hatches being re-released on April 10, 2007 with new artwork and an extra track ("Drinking Song") on the Canadian indie label Nettwerk. "Fuck Was I" was also released on Weeds: Music from the Original Series, Vol. 2.

In addition to her solo career, she is in the band The Robot Explosion, a side project with fellow musicians and friends Bess Rogers, Andrew Futral, and Saul Simon-MacWilliams. She also takes part in an online Podcast through Myspace with Bess Rogers and Andrew Futral, titled 'Once More With Feeling' (named after the musical episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer).

Youngs recently toured with Vienna Teng, opening for the singer on the Green Caravan Tour. Also, she supported Aimee Mann at London's indigO2 on 27 July 2007. Youngs more recently toured with Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket in August 2007, and with Sean Hayes, with whom she co-headlined. She traveled to cities in Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden in November and December 2007.

Youngs released her second album, Transmitter Failure, on May 26, 2009. Youngs also supported Regina Spektor in her 2009 tour promoting the album Far.

She also collaborated with Xian Hawkins under the moniker Bell Horses, which resulted in the album This Loves Last Time (2009).

Youngs recently covered "Have You Forgotten" by Mark Kozelek for American Laundromat Records's upcoming charity CD "Sing Me To Sleep - Indie Lullabies" due out in Spring 2010. Tanya Donelly, Dean & Britta, Say Hi, Julie Peel, Stars, The Real Tuesday Weld, and others are contributing to the project which helps children with cancer and rare blood disorders.

In March 2010, Youngs toured with Bess Rogers and Allison Weiss on their 'Spring Break Forever Tour', after which she flew out to the United Kingdom to support Motion City Soundtrack on their tour, which took place in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow. She headlined a show at "Monto Water Rats" in London in April 2010.

Discography

Albums

Singles

* "Split" with Dave House - UK vinyl only single released April 2007 Gravity DIP Records

* "Fuck Was I" UK single released May 2007 Nettwerk Music Group

EP

* The Take Off All Your Clothes EP March 12, 2007

* Led to the Sea EP April 7, 2009

Demos

* The Scrappy Demo 2004

References