Bio

Jamie Green's musical pedigree runs deep. From a long line of musical women, Jamie's grandmother and great aunts were the Big Band-era jazz vocalists, the King Sisters, while her mother was a soloist in the 60's girl group, the Four King Cousins.  Jamie joined the King Family roadshow and TV specials at the age of six, learning harmonies from her mother by singing to Steely Dan, the Eagles and Earth, Wind & Fire. As an adult, Jamie carried on the family's musical legacy-- if with a bit more edge--as a contemporary singer-songwriter in her own right, winning two L.A. Music Awards in the "Indie Pop" and “Adult Alternative" Album of the Year categories and multiple honors from national and international songwriting competitions, including the John Lennon Songwriting Contest and the Lionel Richie songwriting scholarship at UCLA.  

Born and raised in Los Angles, Jamie has lived in Santa Barbara for the past 16 years where she has been performing her original music in both full band and smaller acoustic settings at venues from Ventura to Santa Ynez.  From 2018 - 2022, you may have seen her front the 90's Tribute Band, Flannel 101, rocking the Tri-Counties from Santa Barbara to Paso Robles. A 90's Tribute project turned out to be a great fit for someone deeply influenced by the singer-songwriters of the Lilith Fair era (Alanis Morrissette, Sheryl Crow, Fiona Apple, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls).  In fronting a 90's Tribute Band, Jamie has been able to rock her raunchier, punkier, sassier side, with covers of No Doubt, Red-Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead and more.  Now she fronts Smelly Cat, a band that celebrates mostly 90's classics, but also ventures into 80's, 00's and 10's with songs that either rock or groove hard, or both. Jamie is known for being a highly energetic, dynamic and even wild front-woman, captivating audiences with her antics. 

In addition to fronting Smelly Cat, Jamie has returned to her original music, presenting her award-winning songs and off-the-beaten path covers in an acoustic setting that spans the genres of rock, soul, funk, folk and blues. Jamie is uniquely able to imbue great storytelling with catchy pop melodies and rich vocal harmonies, navigating maturely through the dark and the light, the dramatic and the fun.  

Jamie's first two award-winning albums ("My Crime" and "Truce") explored such topics as a woman’s need to hold herself sacred, a young girl’s need for encouragement, a teenage girl’s need to rant, a woman’s right to choose, and of course, a woman’s right to process relationships gone wrong. On her latest album, "Chase the Rain," Jamie continues her signature storytelling through several different types of female characters: “Unencumbered” features a plucky 14 year-old with “braces and a nose ring” who makes a unique impression on the narrator; “Megan, Lynndie & Sabrina” features the trio of female soldiers at Abu Ghraib who posed “thumbs-up in front of a pile of naked, hooded men,” thus forcing the songwriter to question her feminist assumptions about female morality. “Silver” - arguably the most poignant song on the album - is a requiem for a woman who left the physical plane far too early, as expressed through the tears of grieving friends.

Regarding the latest album's title track, “Chase the Rain," Jamie remarks, “We all make crazy choices. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t, and other people don’t understand them. I’m drawn to those quirky people who haven’t done it the way it’s supposed to be done. This song is for them, and for me.” 

Given the soulful vocals, infectious grooves and deeply personal lyrics, Green's music may very well be for you too.