Jennings was born in rural New Hampshire in October 1957. His parents were 17, and he was forced to pave his own way in life. Jennings was the first in his family to graduate from high school (valedictorian at Sanborn Regional High, class of 1975), and later worked his way through the University of New Hampshire. Jennings graduated from UNH in 1980 and quickly entered the field of journalism.

Over the years Jennings has worked at the Manchester Union Leader, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Jennings has also published several novels, which depict rural life in the United States.

Jennings's non-fiction book about country music, published by FSG, hit stores in May 2008. It is entitled Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death and Country Music, and seamlessly weaves personal anecdote together with the vice and gruffness of "classic country."

Diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008, Jennings has been writing a weekly column for the Well blog on nytimes.com beginning November 11, 2008.

Jennings currently resides in Upper Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife and two sons.

In 1981, Jennings married his wife, Deborah, a Jewish woman. They raised both sons Jewish. However, Jennings did not convert to Judaism until 2004. He attends Temple Ner Tamid, a Reform synagogue, in Bloomfield, NJ. He wrote about his conversion in March 2008 article in the New York Times, entitled: "Religion is Less Birthright Than a Good Fit." Two of Jennings' siblings are born-again Christians, and his youngest brother is Catholic. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/weekinreview/02jennings.html?scp=1&sq=dana%20jennings%20birthright&st=cse)

Novels

• Lonesome Standard Time. New York: Harcourt, 1996. ISBN 015100188X ISBN 978-0151001880
• Women of Granite. New York: Harcourt, 1992. ISBN 0151983674 ISBN 978-0151983674
• Mosquito Games. Ticknor & Fields, 1989. ASIN: B000ONQ4K8

For Children

• With Goro Sasaki (illustrator). Me, Dad and Number 6. Gulliver Books, 1997. ISBN 0152000852 ISBN 978-0152000851

Non-fiction

• Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death and Country Music. (forthcoming, FSG, 2008)[1]

Print journalism

• ESSAY: "Religion Is Less A Birthright and More a Good Fit" by Dana Jennings. "The New York Times", 2 March 2008.
• Review of Awesome Bill from Dawsonville: My Life in NASCAR by Bill Elliott with Chris Millard. The New York Times, 11 February 2007.
• "ESSAY: After All These Years, A Red-Headed Stranger." The New York Times, 3 July 2005.
• "New York Action Hero." The New York Times, 23 November 2003.
• "MEDIA: At House of Comics, a Writer's Champion." The New York Times, 15 September 2003.
• "MUSIC: Treasured Moments, Living On in Boxed Sets." The New York Times, 10 February 2002.
• "Too Close for Comfort, and Too Far; A Murky Tunnel Full of Buses and What-Ifs." The New York Times, 30 September 2001.
• "The Magic of Comics! While Batman Turns 64, A Fan Goes Back to 9." The New York Times, 27 August 2003.
• "MUSIC: They Have a Right to Sing the Blues, and a Reason." The New York Times, 13 August 2000.
• "In Bayou Country, Music Is Never Second Fiddle." The New York Times, 22 November 1998.
• "Spanning the Globe: 60 Years With Lomax." The New York Times, 13 April 1997.
• "Gathering In a Reaper's Harvest of Song." The New York Times, 13 April 1997.
• "The Juilliard Of Bluegrass Music." The New York Times, 5 January 1997.
• "Remembrance of Things Fast." The New York Times, 20 August 1995.
• "POP MUSIC: Bluegrass, Straight and Pure, Even if the Money's No Good." The New York Times, 23 April 1995.
• "BACKTALK: A Son Grows a Little Older, a Father Grows a Little Younger." The New York Times, 19 June 1994.