Jeremy Facknitz has been entertaining audiences with his lovingly crafted music and high-energy performances for over a quarter century. Since the 2002 break-up of his Detroit-based band “The Ottomans” (they earned a 2001 Detroit Music Award for Best New Alternative Band, beating out “The White Stripes”), Jeremy has performed primarily as a solo act, marrying folk-rock and jazz stylings to showcase his intimate stories of life, love, and self-discovery.  

Facknitz is set to release his sixth album, Smilin’ At The Future, on March 31.  The album will feature commentary on our current-day confusion – our political dystopia, our personal triumphs and failures, and our continued awakening – as we cling to what’s left of our hopes for the future.  For the album, Jeremy creates a hybrid sound of rock, and jazz elements of country/Americana with producer Jarrod Headley and The Jeremy Facknitz Band: Ricky Sweum (sax), David Siegel (violin), Mike Kimlicko (bass), Brad Plesz (drums) and John Standish (keys).

Today Facknitz shared the video for the single, “As Of This Morning.” Encompassing a 70s singer-songwriter rocker backdrop using Eagles-esque guitar tones, “As Of This Morning” recalls that moment of awakening in a relationship that it might be time to move on. Aiming for a positive vibe amid a typically sad subject, Facknitz says, “It’s the simplest song on the album, the most countrified, and still one of my favorites.”

Facknitz carved out a living performing at bars, coffee shops, and corporate events while teaching lessons on the side. “I was happy to be making a living performing music, but my original music wasn’t being heard – and as the years passed I found myself more and more frustrated playing to a little more than the din of drunken conversation.” Things came to a head on July 17th, 2017 when Facknitz was diagnosed with viral meningitis. “I came face to face with my mortality, and I realized it was time for a change. I quit performing at bars and spent the next year making the leap to house concerts, touring, and performing solely for listening audiences.”  

The leap has paid off. Facknitz was named a top 24 finalist from over 800 entries in the 2020 and 2022 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Competitions at Kerrville Folk Festival. His songs “Ballet of an Unhatched Chick” and “Michigan (Something In The Water)” were awarded semi-finalist distinction at songoftheyear.com, also in 2020 and 2022.  

Photo Courtesy: Steve Willis