Jen Sygit grew up listening to an eclectic mix of music – from Elvis to Cat Stevens to Led Zeppelin. Perhaps that’s one reason she likes doing what she calls a hodge-podge of styles.
“I do folk American, blues, with a little bluegrass, and old-time influence. I throw all those things into my music,” said Sygit, an award-winning folk roots musician.
She’ll bring her guitar, banjo, stories and original songs to the Lake County Folk Club’s concert April 30 in Grayslake.
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Sygit said she’s been told she has an interesting, unique voice, that she’s a vocal chameleon. “When I do blues, I sing with a little more gusto. For folk, it’s a little more prim and proper, for lack of a better term,” she said.
Sygit gravitated toward performing and writing music like jelly to peanut butter when growing up in Michigan.
She learned piano, organ and guitar – and even performed on the trombone in her high school band.
She also received a scholarship to the nationally known Interlochen Music Camp where she studied voice, piano and trombone.
Still, Sygit chose to major in English in college.
“I didn’t realize that you can have a career without being a pop star. But when I moved to Lansing to go to college, I noticed there were lots of people who had careers in music who weren’t the Britney Spears of the world.”
So a day before she was scheduled to interview for an advertising job after college, she canceled the appointment and decided to pursue a full-time music career. She called that her epiphany moment.
Through the years, Sygit has written her own songs based on her observations of life – winning prized awards including the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Broadcast Excellence Award for an episode she created for the PBS show “Backstage Pass.”
Her most recent album, “So Long Pollyana,” was named album of the year by two Michigan radio station announcers.
The songs on that album reflect what she’s learned about life and the music business over a decade of performing and working with other musicians.
“Any writer should be writing about what they know,” Sygit said.
“But you don’t want it to be all about the same thing,” she said. So she searches for ideas in whatever she experiences.
“I’ve done something as simple as walking around my city with open eyes to see what’s going on,” to get inspired to write a song. One piece she wrote, “Lousy Bridge,” describes what she saw around the city that day.
Another of her songs, “Racecar No. 4,” was written after she purchased a combination banjo and ukulele.
“It has these cool drawings including a racecar with a No. 4 on it. The first night I took the instrument home and I wrote a song, based on that image. An artist’s job is finding things that other people miss and weaving a story out of it.
“One of my favorites is called ‘Conductor Man.’ It’s a story/song about a fellow here in Lansing. He walks around town and he wears a conductor’s cap and carries this boom box around. He’s been doing this since the 1970s. The cool thing about that is now people are sending me pictures and stories when they see him. The song has gotten its own life.”
At the Grayslake concert, she’ll play banjo and acoustic guitar and will sing old-time music as well as a ballad and other pieces.
“I try to perform variety for the audience. I try to connect with the audience. I’ll tell stories of how the songs came to be. I might play some old songs. I’ll play some classic tunes and talk about where they came from,” she said.
Sygit thinks live music is an important experience for people to have. As Joni Mitchell said, “Van Gogh will never paint another ‘Starry Night,'” she said. “But with live music, every concert is different.”
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
Jen Sygit
When: 7 p.m. April 30
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Where: Grayslake Heritage Center and Museum, 164 Hawley St., Grayslake
Tickets: $15-$18
Information: 847-602-8882; www.thelakecountyfolkclub.org