Soulful songstress Jessica Ripka will be bringing her thoughtful and whimsical piano melodies to the Donkey Coffee & Espresso stage on Friday, May 21.

Ripka, who now resides in Detroit, Michigan, but is formerly from Los Angeles, has a penchant for writing expressive songs about her experiences and perceptions of the world. Friday’s show will be her first since returning from a trip backpacking around Europe with her friend and recent Ohio University graduate, Bethany Williams.

“It was really just a dream that my friend Bethany and I had since 2007,” Ripka said. “Just to kind of get away and see the Eiffel Tower for real. It just worked out. It was really great!”

While traveling in Europe, Ripka had the opportunity to perform in a variety of different locales. “I did this really impromptu show at this place in Paris called Shakespeare and Company. It’s a bookstore right outside of Notre Dame and it’s predominately English speaking people and they have an old piano upstairs buried in books and I just started playing,” she said.

She found performing for an international audience to be incredibly rewarding. “The instantaneous response enables me to share it and get a completely different experience,” Ripka said. “What was so cool was being able to get perspective on my music and let that influence it and spur it along. I think it’s so great to be on a completely different patch of the planet and see that people respond to my music but even in a completely different way. It’s inspiring.”

With songs that encompass a multitude of emotions examined by Ripka’s soaring voice combined with the delicacy of her piano, it is clear how her music can be universally enjoyed. She explained that it’s the personal experiences behind each song that truly make them memorable and special.

“What I really like is being able to share the stories behind them because there’s always that nostalgia element to my music. I actually think the story behind music is almost more significant than the music itself,” she said.

For Ripka, music has always been a family affair. Growing up, she was able to witness the musical talents of her parents and allow their influence to inspire her to follow her dreams of becoming a pianist.

“My mother has this beautiful soprano voice that I just can’t compete with and my dad was always playing piano, trumpet and French horn and all sorts of different instruments. Having the influence of my parents for so long was really significant,” she said.

Venturing outside of her family and into the sounds of contemporary music, Ripka names Sufjan Stevens and Regina Spektor as some of her favorite and most influential musicians.

Out of all of her influence, Spektor’s style is the most readily accessible in her music. Similar to Spektor, Ripka utilizes her piano as a musical vehicle in which she takes listeners on a journey through twinkling staccato chords and reverberating, smooth, flowing melodies.

Ripka’s show this Friday is significant in that it will be the first time she will have physical copies of her debut album Don’t Listen to My Face, which is a reflection of an phrase that she uses regarding her facial expressions.

“I tend to wear my thoughts on my face and sometimes it gets misread quite a bit. I found myself saying a year and a half ago, ‘Don’t listen to my face.’ It just summed up what I wanted to say,” she said.

Don’t Listen to My Face is also notable because portions of the album were recorded in the practice rooms at Ohio University’s Glidden Hall.

“I was visiting [Bethany] in February and I was really burning to get the album done. I’d already started recording in Michigan. I ended up visiting her for five days and I brought my recording gear," she said. "‘Café’ off of the album, that whole piano track is done in a practice room in the music school and parts of ‘Thick Skinned.’ Different parts of the album are definitely recorded in Athens, thanks to Bethany.”

If creating music isn’t enough, Ripka has lived and worked in Los Angeles creating films and has recently written a memoir. She explained that she would like to combine her music and her other artistic pursuits.

“I’m hoping to do an album in conjunction with the memoirs. I’m hoping for 2011, 2012. I think that’s as far as I can look. I just have to stay true to what I’m going to do,” she said.

Jessica Ripka will be taking the stage along with Flyaway Saturn’s Chris Mengerink this Friday, May 21 at Donkey Coffee and Espresso. The show begins at 9 p.m.