More People Really Should Know About: Jack M. Senff

Jack M. Senff (pronounced sen-eff) is an artist with a varied career; he’s a storytelling songwriter who cites influences including Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Tracy Chapman, Hiss Golden Messenger and Big Thief. Based in Traverse City, north Michigan, in addition to being a musician, Senff owns a pizza joint (Make Believe Pizza) in Traverse City, with his wife.

Senff’s musical career has included a whole host of bands and solo projects, from bands with screaming vocals to gentle, acoustic songs. Starting with a screamo band called We Are The Colossus, back in 2007; the band produced a demo consisting of two songs, ‘Watch Out for Giants‘ and ‘Aside From That, How Was the Play Mrs. Lincoln?‘ before disbanding. The demo is available to audition on YouTube: however fans of americana may consider this to be something of an acquired taste.

Following the demise of We Are The Colossus, Senff formed Merchant Ships, the band released an EP in 2009 before Senff went off to form Midwest Pen Pals, a band that released an EP ‘Inside Jokes’ before breaking up. Senff reconnected with Merchant Ships, to release another EP ‘For Cameron’ before breaking up once again. Senff then formed the band William Bonney, releasing an EP ‘Good Vibes’ in May 2011, after which Senff relocated to Seattle and embarked on a solo project, under the name Sailor Heart. During this time, Senff remained a member of William Bonney, however that band was inactive.

The change to Sailor Heart was significant, marking a departure from the screamo style of his previous works as this gave way to a style that’s more recognisable as americana. Sailor Heart’s first release was an album named ‘Since the Apple Orchard’, in October 2011. This was followed by Sneff’s final release as Sailor Heart, April 2012’s ‘The Distance of Boat Rides’. More recently Senff used the title Boy Rex as he continued to develop a style that is more in tune with the americana genre. As Boy Rex he released three full-length records; ‘The Bloodmonths’ in 2016, ‘Better Vision’ (2017) and 2018’s ‘Live! from the Far-Away’.

Since 2018, Senff has worked under his own name; beginning with 2019’s ‘Good To Know You’ and following up with ‘Live from Eureka Records 10​/​27​/​19′ which features live performances of some of the songs from ‘Good To Know You’ and sees the introduction of a backing group known as The Rolling Hill Band.

‘These Northwood Blues’ followed, the songs for which were written just before the world hit the ‘pause’ button with the arrival of COVID-19. This album was recorded, according to Senff “..after multiple delays, during a lucky weekend break in the national, global upheaval of 2020.” The songs ‘Wildfire‘ and ‘Real Life Cowboy‘ are standout cuts on what is a strong album. 2021’s ‘Solo Takes’ sees Senff re-recording a number of his previously released songs; simply recorded by just two microphones, it offers a different take on some of these songs.  2022’s ‘Low Spirit’ continues with the approach taken on ‘These Northwood Blues’, again working with The Rolling Hill Band. It’s another really good record; listening to some of the songs on ‘Low Spirit’, one can pick up early Ryan Adams vibes. All the songs here are written by Senff, with the exception of ‘Thunder Roll On‘, which was written by Senff and his wife, Em Randall.

Senff’s forthcoming album ‘Feeling & Devotion’ due for release towards the end of July 2024, sees Senff off in another different direction that Senff describes as The Heartland Mission. The songs released so far, ‘Whole Heart‘, ‘Best We Can‘ and ‘Kickin’ Around‘ are a preview of what sounds like it could be yet another good album. Of the new direction, it still sounds like americana to me, if a little more upbeat than Senff’s recent releases. Interestingly, fellow Traverse City musician John Richard Paul, whose ‘The Road of Life’ LP was recently the subject of a favourable review by Americana UK  is involved with Senff on the forthcoming release.

So in short, Jack M. Senff is an artist you definitely should know about; the quality of his americana offerings is very good indeed. The big question, however is whether you’ll be able to keep up with the meanderings of his career?