Born and raised in the Kentucky outskirts of Cincinnati, Ohio, Jack Redell seemed to inherit the disparate and often incongruous cultures of sound flowing from the river town. As the Queen City herself is a crossroads of American history and ideologies, such is the self-understanding of her inhabitants. Early on, Redell came to know blues, jazz, country, folk, and bluegrass music to be of one denomination, and consequently developed sensibilities only available to a young man at such a crossing. But it was song and songwriters specifically that truly piqued his interest. Writers who with one voice and one guitar could generate an entire work of fiction became his sole focus. Admiring the emotional depth of Townes Van Zandt, the honesty of Greg Brown, and the narrative sophistication of Joe Henry, Redell honed his songwriting chops with these qualities as a first principle. The result of this undertaking is a form of the written song that bestows a desire to take what is heard as a lover, to know her in her many lights and moods.
Jack Redell began performing while living in Denver, CO. After his first album, Famous American, was released in 2004, Westword awarded him the sought-after Best Singer-Songwriter honor, hailing him "an American classic in the making." Sensing it was time, he hit the studio for a year co-producing the Strong Hands album for Judith Avers (Denver's best Singer-Songwriter 2005) and undertaking his own effort, Orphanage Road. While completing the recording sessions for Orphanage Road, Redell co-founded Satire Records, an independent collective designed to assist and cultivate the careers of American Roots songwriters. In 2006, Redell returned to Cincinnati and currently tours extensively.
Jack Redell has performed with Dwight Yoakam, Chris Knight, David Wilcox, Carbonleaf, and Little Charlie and the Nightcats, among others.
