Joy’s Anatomy

After an extended lapse in the release of new tunes, Joy Willliams has re-integrated back into the music industry as a major artist. And although the stark contrast between her prior and present material has been subjected to mass speculation, Joy would rather call this latter sound a “natural development artistically that comes from stepping back and re-evaluating [her] approach to music” rather than what has been more maliciously labelled a “deviation from [her] roots.”

I was putting on a pot of tea when I received a call from Joy to talk about her present perspective on the art of making music. A distinct Californian accent permeated the gentle voice that came through the headset – a voice that carried a captivating grace acquired tastefully over years of contemplation. It hits me to wonder if this twenty-something bohemian spirit hasn’t somehow mastered the ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn.

It is this kind of resilience that has characterized much of these passing years as Joy’s “musical inclinations have been expanding, and changing, and growing that in order to foster that, [she] needed to take a step back and re-align [her] identity” apart from a record label that was unable to facilitate that. “As a major label artist,” Joy explains, “there are certain formulas that exist to commodify creativity so that it fits the mainstream. But once you learn what those paradigms are, it is about trying to find wiggle room to say what it is that you want to say. The artists and the artful need to learn how to fight, every day, to make sure that the system doesn’t steal their story and their message because...everyone just wants to gravitate towards things that are authentic and true.” For Joy, “pulling away has really been about getting back to that place with [her] own music.”

Under the umbrella of Sensibility Music, a music company established by Nate Yetton, both her husband and manager, Joy has been able to create music in a new way. “It is incredibly freeing to work in an environment that allows my music to reflect the growth and evolution that is so necessary for artists.”

Despite the novel style this liberty has elicited from Joy, she states that “though less lyrically overt, what [she] currently [creates] is not antithetical to anything [she] has done before.” “The true heart behind all of the music, in my opinion, remains in being honest...which is prevalent notwithstanding the nuance. What I mean is that every individual has a worldview and that to me is a grid through which we all see life. Although my former music era describes my sense of the grid, my extant material articulates what I observe and understand relative to this perspective.”

It’s a living work, her musical endeavours, the latest of which can be downloaded at thecivilwars.com – a live recording at Eddie’s Attic of The Civil Wars, a collaborative project with John Paul White.