Things look up for lady who sings the blues
Jo Wymer puts her life in song as she pursues success in music biz
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
Everyone has a story. Some people write it, others paint it, but Jo Wymer? She sings it - with attitude and soul. Wymer, 40, of Freehold Township, is a blues singer. She and her band are billed as "Blues with Attitude" and anyone hearing her sing needn't ask why.

Jo Wymer

Being born into a family with a musi cal background - her mother was a clas sical pianist, her brother is a singer and plays bass guitar, and her sister is a singer - it is easy to understand why Wymer began singing so young.

At the age of 6 she joined the choir at her church, St. Philip and St. James, in St. James, Long Island, N.Y., and stayed until she was about 20. She then joined the U.S. Navy and was on active duty for six years, and inactive duty for another six years, finishing her service in 1996.

After tending to some personal and family issues, including raising her son, Hudson, now 9, Wymer started to think about singing again.

She moved to Freehold Township from Pennsylvania four years ago and with the encouragement of her husband, Dan Wymer, took up the guitar, signing up for lessons with noted musician Jerry Topinka. Eventually she teamed up with guitarist Cliff Bloodgood and drummer Brian London, and the Jo Wymer Trio was born.

Wymer took her background in gospel and blended it with her life experiences. Then she and her band mates took their show on the road to cafes and clubs. She said she got her first big break at the 2005 Guitar Show held at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft.

"That was a pivotal event for me," Wymer said. "It was a 100 percent awak - ening for me."

The show's organizers must have had their eyes opened as well because they asked Wymer to return in 2006, which she did. That led to numerous contacts and the ability to network herself and her music.

A four-track CD (with Wymer and her new bass guitarist, Fred Dorward), entry into contests and winning several awards have all just scratched the surface of where Wymer wants and plans to go. This mezzosoprano singer has already catalogued 35 of her original songs with the Library of Congress.

Her song "Boulevard" was a finalist in the 2006 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. It also attracted the at tention of legendary singer-guitarist Johnny Winter, who wanted to buy the rights to the song. According to Wymer, that won't happen. The songs are hers and she intends to keep it that way.

The lyrics to three of her songs, "Blackened Eyes," "Evil Man" and "Devil's Pride," have been featured in American Songwriter magazine.

Wymer's music is where her heart and soul lie. Her sound helps listeners to imagine they are sitting in a dimly lit nightclub in New Orleans on a steamy summer evening.

"My songs are relationship driven," Wymer said. "They are my life in music."

Her music shines a light on her rela - tionships with her ex-husband, her mother and her little boy, as well as the relationships in her new life, a new life that music has helped to bring about.

She said her mother's death in 2002 was a life-changing experience for her. In Wymer's case, the loss of her mother led her back to tending to the mu sical career she left behind years before. It also led her to write in a journal on a regular basis. In fact, Wymer said many of her songs came from the body of work she produced in her journals.

Her decision to return to music also resulted in "Mom's Song," among many others.

Wymer's music can be heard on radio stations in the United States and Europe.

"Everyone loves the blues in Europe, especially women blues singers," Wymer said, adding that the music industry in the United States is not all that accepting of blues, and especially not of women in blues. Bringing more women into the blues genre is one of her goals.

Wymer and her band were nominated for Top Blues Band at the 2006 Asbury Music Awards and were selected to play at the 2007 Mammapalooza Festival in New York City.

She has performed in locations includ ing Barrington Coffee House, Barring-ton, N.Y.; Jitters Coffee House, Southington, Conn.; Stir it Up Coffee House, Mullica Hill; Twisted Tree Cafe, Asbury Park; Green Planet Coffee, Asbury Park; and the Wonder Bar, Asbury Park.

Wymer and her band will compete in the Jersey Shore Blues Challenge in October to vie for a spot at the International Blues Competition in Memphis, Tenn. Her band will also com pete in the Original Sessions National Band Search at the John Street Grill in New York on Aug. 24, where the winner will receive a $50,000 recording contract.

Wymer said she is a huge supporter of live music.

"It's difficult being in the music indus - try today. Many people don't want to go out and hear live music anymore," she said. "They'd rather stay at home and watch it on their HDTV."

For Wymer, singing the blues is not merely an avocation. She is singing her own life story through the music and lyrics she has written and performed. Her music is deep, rich and full of the stuff any true artist worth his or her salt is full of - soul.

From her husky voice, which ranges from sultry to silken, to her talent at strumming guitar strings, this fiery red - headed blues belter has it all down pat. Although her particular sound is unique and hers alone, the influence of some of her favorite artists, including Bonnie Raitt, Mavis Staples, Patsy Cline, Etta James and Billie Holiday, can be heard in her music.

Her music describes where she has been, including some places that did not feel very good, and hopefully, to where she is headed - to the top.

Although writing and singing her songs are a major part of Wymer's life, her family takes precedence over everything else. Although she considers herself to be a blues artist who rocks, first and fore most she is always a "mom who rocks."