A singer-songwriter gathers her best material on wheels.

by Olivia Springer

If Jenna Lindbo could play guitar while riding her bicycle, she would. Riding nearly every day, the 26-year old Asheville singer songwriter gets most of her material from nature and her surroundings. Lindbo, who has been compared to Norah Jones, Brandi Carlile and even Dolly Parton (which makes her giggle) released her first album, Strings and Spokes, last summer. She plays shows at the ArtsCenter in Carrboro and Purple Onion Café in Saluda this month.

Growing up in the central Oregon town of Bend, Lindbo inherited her grandpa’s old upright piano and found a teacher, Becky French, to plant the seed for her love of music. She played sax in junior high and keys in jazz band, then picked up guitar and singing in high school. It was in a songwriting class at Oregon State University that she knew she was hooked on music as a career.

Mentoring is also important to her. In July, she worked at a girls’ camp in Michigan for two months teaching song writing and coordinating music projects. Last summer, at an event called “Dream Ride,” kids wrote their dreams on a streamer and attached it to their handlebars. On October 1,, she’ll coordinate another Dream Ride and benefit concert in Charlotte with an organization called Trips for Kids. There’s a Dream Ride in the works for Asheville kids too. Her dream is to start a nonprofit that brings music education and mentoring to underserved youth.

For more, check out www.jennalindbo.com. Lindbo plays The Purple Onion Café in Saluda on September 29 at 7:30pm.