In her music, her business and her community involvement, Jenes Carter is all about making people feel good.
She owns her own nail salon in Midtown, serves as the vice president of the Wells Avenue District neighborhood association, and is the frontwoman and musical force behind JeNes N the Juice, “an eclectic bunch with a SoulFunkHopedelic sound,” according to the band’s Facebook page.
For years now, Carter has carved out a distinctive niche in Reno that not only highlights her musical talents, but also underscores her commitment to community engagement.
“I believe in my product,” she said, a sentiment that resonates through her artistic endeavors and her outreach efforts.
Born and raised in Reno, Carter participated in the Boys & Girls Club in her youth, which served as her introduction to both community spaces and music production.
“The Boys & Girls Club had this workshop-class thing where we would, like, enter beats into contests, and I got into that and making music,” she said. “I think that really got me into the whole thing, where I live to do stuff for my community.”
From there, Carter began to explore the city’s karaoke scene. She created her own beats and performed original material at venues like the El Cortez. All the while, she continued to develop her primary instrument: her voice.
Carter credits her father for her initial exposure to jazz, which served as the musical foundation that would shape her artistic journey.
“There was always music kind of around,” she said. “My dad would always have me listening to jazz and picking up instruments and stuff.”
As a child, she took part in various choir programs as well as the Nevada Opera Youth Chorus, and performed with the Reno Philharmonic on occasion. Singing was so important to her early development that she even credits it as the thing that kept her in school.
Her early experiences in the city’s music scene paved the way for her to connect with local musicians and to start the hip-hop crew Black Rock City Allstars, which helped her refine her skills and gain exposure on the regional festival circuit.
“We all became Black Rock City Allstars from going to Burning Man a lot and doing other different things and opening up for people like Paul Wall and Chamillionaire, and we then just kind of kept going—like, (performing with) Big Boi from OutKast and Sean Paul and different people like that,” Carter said. “Even doing crazy stuff like the AVN (Adult Video News) awards, performing at that with Too Short.”
From her exposure as a vocalist and rapper with the Black Rock City Allstars, she was approached to join the soul/funk outfit Mojo Green, which gave her one of her first exposures to the rigors of being part of a live band.
The formation of JeNes N the Juice is the culmination of her musical tastes, though, mixing the improvisation of her DJ sets and hip-hop performances with the energy and structure of a live band. This process involved carefully assembling a lineup that could blend her diverse influences into a cohesive sound, with Carter sourcing musicians from Craigslist and mutual connections in the music scene alike.
JeNes N the Juice features a rotating cast of musicians, growing and shrinking as the venue—and the band’s schedule—can accommodate. At a live show, you might see an electric guitar, drums, bass, keyboards, saxophone, trumpet, flute, backing vocals and more, all led by Carter’s soaring, lilting, velvety vocals. It’s a lot of sound, but as far as the specific ratio of soul, funk and hip-hop involved, Carter doesn’t like to overanalyze it.
“I don’t know—I think I’m just crazy,” Carter said. “I’m like, ‘That feels good!’ Like, I want to move, and feel like it’s OK to move. So how do I help to translate that with my words and my body to help free somebody else?”
As proficient as every musician sharing the stage with Carter is, the entire production mostly runs on vibes, as opposed to strict arrangements, with end goal simply to create a solid groove under Carter’s loose direction. That translates to the band’s songwriting process as well.
“I have some songs that some people helped co-write with either beats or a concept or a hook or something,” she said. “But for the most part, I write the songs, and I’ll kind of have an idea for inspiration of the background music, and I’ll take the instruments, and I’ll play them for the person who actually plays, and then they can hear where my head is at.”
The fluid experience at the heart of JeNes N the Juice’s live shows, where audiences are encouraged to join in the celebration of music and movement, has been well-received. JeNes N the Juice played a packed schedule this past summer, including shows at Burning Man, High Camp at Palisades Tahoe and various venues across California and the Western United States.
“The majority of our shows this year, I think, were out of town,” Carter said.
JeNes N the Juice will also be one of the few local bands performing at this year’s OffBeat Music Festival—a performance that’s been years in the making, Carter said. For her, OffBeat represents more than just a music festival; it’s a platform to showcase Reno’s artistic talent and foster a sense of community while positioning the town as a destination for music lovers.
“I think that it makes us look dope as a city, because now here are these people who may have not come down here, who get to see how dope Reno is,” she said.
Despite the band’s growing popularity, Carter still splits her time between her music, her business, and local initiatives like her annual socks and jackets drive for the Boys & Girls Club.
“Nov. 16 is going to be the next socks and jackets drive that I want to do for Boys and Girls Club,” she said. “In my business plan, I made it a thing that I wanted to make sure that I make my surrounding area better—like, to help my community with having a business, so I immediately went straight into doing stuff for the Boys and Girls Club, and Nevada Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence, working with different people in the community, just pulling all the resources I have together to give back.”
As far as her musical future, Carter hopes to record and master some of JeNes N the Juice’s tracks to start an online catalog sometime in the future, but she’s patently resistant to giving a timeline. She’s more concerned with doing things in her own time and in her own way.
“I want to be in my own space,” she said. “I want to be authentic. I don’t want it to be driven by how people think that I should be doing something, or when it should be done.”
Like all things Carter puts her talents to, the vibes have to be right.
You can see recordings of Jenes N the Juice’s live shows on their Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. The band will perform in the OffBeat Music Festival at Sucias, 555 E. Fourth St., in Reno, on Sunday, Oct. 6 from 12:10 a.m. to 1:10 a.m. (While the show technically takes place during the wee hours of Sunday morning, it’s part of Saturday night’s festival lineup.) For tickets and information, visit www.offbeatreno.com.