ATO's Newest Artist, Jem

By Waldo Jaquith
Late last year, ATO Records signed their newest musician, Jem. An autumn test release of her five-song EP, It All Starts Here... was met with great enthusiasm, earning the disc a prominent spot and rave reviews on kingmaker Nic Harcourt's renowned "Morning Becomes Eclectic," on L.A.'s KCRW. Her first album, Finally Woken [Amazon, iTunes], was released earlier this month, and sold briskly in its first two weeks. If Jem's fantastic pop sound enjoys the success that it deserves, she could single-handedly bring ATO back to the heights of the heady days of David Gray's White Ladder, the RCA imprint's only great financial success thus far. For the full story on Jem and ATO, see Courteney Stuart's story in the newest issue of Charlottesville weekly The Hook. Jem is ATO Records' ninth artist since the RCA imprint was launched in early 2000 by Coran Capshaw, Dave Matthews, Michael McDonald and Chris Tetzeli.