In 1995, Natalie Merchant had a hit record as a solo artist – Tigerlily.  It’s a fine record that reflects a smooth evolution from 10,000 Maniacs to a more individualized style.  She certainly did not reinvent the wheel on that one.  And while I’m a casual fan of Ms. Merchant’s unique vocal style, the only reason I ever paid attention to the record was a Saturday Night Live promotional performance that emphasized the obvious talent of Merchant’s PRS-wielding lead guitarist, Ms. Jen Turner.

Turner knocked my socks off.  She was lovely, but more importantly, brought such tremendous tone and confidence to her performances both on the record and on the stage, one could not help but think big things were right around the corner for her.  Speaking to Guitar world during the marketing of Tigerlily, Turner showed what I believe to be the exact right attitude for someone in her position:

Turner is of two minds about the “women in rock” issue: “Usually, it’s something I don’t even think about. But every once in a while, some guy will say something like ‘Oh, a guitar! You know how to tune one of those?’ And I feel like saying, ‘Yeah. Do you know how to eat one? ‘Cause that’s what your’re gonna be doing in a minute, pal.’”

For one reason or another, it never happened.  A bit of research turns up a well-financed project on Virgin called Furslide, which appears to have gone nowhere.  There is some evidence of her playing here and there in the middle part of this decade, but no big mentions, no big gigs.  This girl was ready to be a professional rock star and, as is the case for countless others, it never came together.  What saddens me is that she actually got her big break, got discovered and played big guitar solos in arenas while she toured the world.  Just check out the solo from a concert at the Meadowlands in 1995.  the fireworks kick in at about the 3:50 mark in this video:

Was she self-destructive?  Did something or someone else get in the way?  Did she just make a decision to not push the issue?  Who knows.  The ‘where are they now file is filled with much bigger names than ‘Jennifer Turner’.  But, in this case, the rock world missed out on something special.