The Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda Files: Jenny Toomey Has Your Antidote

Time for another installment of the Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda Files, where we raid our archives in search of a lost gem.

Artist: Jenny Toomey Album: Antidote, 2001 What happened: Most people know singer Jenny Toomey for her extra-curricular activities: She co-founded the D.C.-based punk label Simple Machines, and eventually went on to establish the Future of Music Coalition, a musicians’ rights advocacy group. Stumping for the FMC on college campuses across the country might not have allowed her to promote Antidote as much as she could have, and the album–subtle and beautiful as it–fell through the cracks. Why it should have been a hit: Jazz, pop, country-tinged–there’s a lot that Toomey does on this double-disc effort, and she does it all well, from sad torch songs (“Useless Excuses”) to droney laments (“Fall on Me,” which features Andrew Bird’s strings) to joyous covers (like her take on Curtis Mayfield’s “Fool For You).” We pull this one out every few months:

Jenny Toomey – Useless Excuses [MP3, link expired] Jenny Toomey – Fall On Me [MP3, link expired] Jenny Toomey – Fool For You [MP3, link expired] Jenny Toomey [Official Site]