Jennifer Lynn Conlee-Drizos (born December 12, 1971) is an American

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wr ...

, best known as the accordionist,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical inst ...

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usua ...

player, and occasional backup singer and harmonicist for the

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...

quintet

The Decemberists The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy (lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...

Musical career

Aside from her work with the Decemberists, Conlee has made guest appearances on several records by other artists, including

Hush Records Hush Records is a Portland, Oregon based record label founded by Chad Crouch. Background Crouch, frontman of the band Blanket Music, organized Hush Records in 1997, when he self-released a solo record called ''Portland, Or''. The following year, ...

artist Reclinerland, Lewi Longmire,

Jerry Joseph Jerry Joseph (born April 19, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Early life Jerry Joseph was born on April 19, 1961 in Los Angeles, California and is of Irish, Lebanese and Syrian ancestry and grew up in the San Diego area. ...

, Buoy LaRue and many others. Before the Decemberists, she played piano for the 1990s

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

, band Calobo. She is also a member of Portland-based

Casey Neill Casey Neill is an American musician. He leads Portland, Oregon-based band Casey Neill & The Norway Rats, singing with a raspy vocal quality and playing electric and acoustic guitars. Neill's style, folk-punk, mixes influences from punk, Celtic an ...

& The Norway Rats where she plays keyboards, accordion, and

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The gloc ...

. Her most recent project is the acoustic band Black Prairie, in which she plays with a number of other Portland artists. She also founded the band KMRIA (Kiss My Royal Irish Arse), a

The Pogues The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse" ...

cover band. Jenny Conlee playing accordion with KMRIA

Conlee's accordions include a Paolo Soprani, which was on display at the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and ...

and a Petosa Futura, which she described as her "regular axe".

Television

In 2011, she appeared on ''

Portlandia ''Portlandia'' is an American sketch comedy television series starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, set in and around Portland, Oregon, and spoofing the city's reputation as a haven for eccentric hipsters. The show was produced by Br ...

'' in comedic skits with Fred Armisen and

Carrie Brownstein Carrie Rachel Brownstein (born September 27, 1974) is an American musician, actress, writer, director, and comedian. She first came to prominence as a member of the band Excuse 17 before forming the rock trio Sleater-Kinney. During a long hiatu ...

. She played a musician who unsuccessfully tries to play at every venue at Blunderbuss, a fictional citywide Portland,

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

festival, as a member of the band Sparkle Pony, and is turned away as she is not on the line up of any of them. She also appeared on ''

Parks and Recreation ''Parks and Recreation'' (also known as ''Parks and Rec'') is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 ...

'' when The Decemberists performed at the Unity Concert.

Personal life

She is married to drummer Steve Drizos. In May 2011, Conlee was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Colin Meloy Colin Patrick Henry Meloy (born October 5, 1974) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and author best known as the frontman of the Portland, Oregon, indie folk rock band The Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acou ...

said that a full recovery was likely, but that she would miss some concerts. On October 20, 2011, Meloy announced via his Twitter that Conlee's cancer was in remission.

References

External links

*
Casey Neill & The Norway Rats website
Living people American accordionists American rock keyboardists American rock pianists American women pianists Musicians from Portland, Oregon Musicians from Seattle 1971 births The Decemberists members Black Prairie members 21st-century accordionists 21st-century American women musicians {{US-pianist-stub