Jean Rohe

Singer/Songwriter

Jean Rohe writes one-of-a-kind narrative songs, concerned as much with the internal world as with the external. Her latest record as a bandleader, Sisterly, produced by longtime collaborator Liam Robinson, is a collection of songs about communication and missed connections, and tackles topics from love, lust, and longing to prisons, police violence, and migration. Sisterly won best Adult Contemporary Album at the Independent Music Awards in 2019.A prolific songwriter, Jean is perhaps best known for her video single, “National Anthem: Arise! Arise!” an aspirational alternative national anthem performed live with brass ensemble and choir, which has now been covered hundreds of times by soloists and choirs across the US. Most recently, her co-write with Liam Robinson, “The Longest Winter” was featured on the 2020 Hades town cast holiday album. Her award-winning 2013 release Jean Rohe & The End of the World Show was hailed by an Elmore Magazine reviewer as “enchanting” and “remarkable in so many ways I can think of no comparison.” Jean tours internationally as a soloist, bandleader, and with Robinson & Rohe, her rootsy songwriting duo, but she is also a devoted songwriting mentor, working with adult writers and youth alike to foster a love of the writing process. For nearly a decade she has been a Carnegie Hall artist, creating lullabies with incarcerated parents on Rikers Island through the Lullaby Project and mentoring songwriters through Musical Connections at Sing Sing Prison. She offers private and group songwriting lessons periodically through the year, and this fall she joins the part time faculty at The New School Jazz and Contemporary Music Program teaching songwriting. Upcoming projects include the release of Wait & See (Robinson & Rohe), Irises, a collection of solo singles, and Jean's performance memoir, The Odysseus Agreement, for which she's received fellowships from MacDowell, the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project, and others. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.