Jessica Ripka (b. 1981) bought her first piano from a Pennysaver ad in Burbank, CA after losing her job in 2008 due to the Writer’s strike in Los Angeles. After 4 months of recording low-fi demos in her bedroom, she relocated temporarily to Detroit for a job where she started booking live shows outside of work. She relocated permanently in 2009 just after releasing her EP “Manger Songs” – a collection of Sufjan Stevens-esque Christmas carols recorded mostly in her living room. After several failed attempts to record in studio settings, she finally released her debut album “Don’t Listen to My Face” – a self-produced project recorded everywhere from churches to college practice rooms. She’s currently writing a collection of memoirs to publish in tandem with her sophomore release. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.