|
Michelle Joly has mastered of one of the most evocative and compellings styles of folk / singer-songwriter music we've encountered, and her new single ‘One Way Lane’ shows why you'll be hearing a lot more of her.
With sublime vocals and strong melodic instincts, Michelle Joly is an artist that any folk / singer-songwriter music enthusiast will thoroughly enjoy. The success of her latest awarding-winning work has quickly garnered her significant exposure, with one critic writing: ‘You can find a little Regina Spektor and a little Brittany Howard in Michelle Joly's voice on 'Cold Home', an album that demonstrates Joly's range of style and sheer talent.’ Yet there’s something special about Michelle Joly that sets her apart from other folk / singer-songwriter acts. In a musical generation characterized by cookie-cutter pop acts, Michelle Joly's impeccable vocal stylings and musicianship do more than stand out. They reveal qualities that cannot be engineered in the studio. There’s also an unpretentious honesty to this artist out of North Vancouver and judging by her growing fan base, she may be precisely what the new generation has been seeking. Independent reporter Brandon Scott recently caught up with Michelle Joly to get an inside look at this talented new artist and to learn what she has in store for fans this year.
BRANDON: Let's just get this out in the open- What is the craziest thing that has happened to you in your music career?
MICHELLE JOLY: Ok. It’s a really long story but to cut to the chase, it goes something like this. In 2011, on my first tour with the release of my debut album, 'You’re Not Alone,' I was arrested at the border of St. Steven, New Brunswick, Canada and Calais, Maine, United States. I spent four days and four nights in jail. You can read all about it online, but the facts are off. I had five shows booked in the USA out of a fifty-five show date tour and I didn’t get a work visa because the price to get it surpassed the amount of money I would be getting paid for the shows. Bad mistake. Basically I lied at the border and said I wasn’t getting paid for any of the shows I had booked. Eventually I confessed about a fundraiser I was getting paid $400 for. For obvious reasons this was the wrong thing to do! We were then arrested, handcuffed, taken into custody, and thrown into jail for four long days and four long nights! They took us to court and we pleaded guilty to charges of fraud. Our lawyers weren't any good as I was told later we should have fought the charges because there was no actual criminal activity that took place. However, I now have a criminal record in the USA. This happened directly in the middle of my extensive 93 day long North American tour. The judge was simply amazing and told us her daughter was following Eddie Vedder across California and she knows music changes people's lives. She told me she knows how hard it is for musicians, especially Canadian independent artists. As she clunked her mallet down on the table, she said, 'Time served. Please have a work visa when you come back to the USA to serenade us with your music. Hopefully you can take this situation and make a positive impact on the lives of other Canadian independent musicians.' I cried and thanked her. The best part of this whole situation was that I wrote three jail songs. Yup, just like Johnny! The title of my second album, 'Cold Home,' is the first song I wrote in jail, inspired by the song, 'If It Hadn't Been For Love,' by The SteelDrivers and written on a brown paper napkin. Amen.
BRANDON: Your song’One Way Lane’is receiving a positive listener response on radio. What was your initial reaction when you first heard your song playing on radio?
MICHELLE JOLY: I was very much in silent shock, ha! Heavenly shock. I must say I was extremely humbled to hear my song on the radio because it is not the song I would have ever thought would make it. However, it’s my friend Curtis Phagoo’s favorite song of mine (and he was the bass player on the song), and he always told me this song would touch lives. This song holds real meaning in my life and I was brought to tears the first time I heard it on the radio. I feel very blessed.
BRANDON: What was the inspiration behind your debut radio single?
MICHELLE JOLY: I have to be honest here. In 2005, my boyfriend's dad, who is a guitar player, came to me with this chord progression. He told me to make a song out of it. I fell in love with the progression-- even though it was so simple, the ringing of the strings was just right. I had just moved back to Red Deer, Alberta from Antigonish, Nova Scotia where I found my love for songwriting. I had only planned to stay in Red Deer for a couple of months and move out to Canada’s east coast. My love of living by the ocean was prevailing. I wanted my life to keep going in one direction-- forward. From my previous life experiences, I knew life was not about beauty and glamour on the outside, but about what was inside that really counted. I’ve always been an advocate for 'make love not war' and I wanted to write it in a song. I wanted people to know that what they feel in their heart is real. We all feel the same thing. We all want the same thing. We all want to love and be loved. One way lane, forward with love. Never looking back.
BRANDON: It is often said that great art arises from difficult experience. Is there something in your life experience thus far that you would describe as the ‘catalyst’ or ‘fuel’ for your desire to create music?
MICHELLE JOLY: Yes, absolutely. So many things. When I was young I loved to sing but only in the comfort of my bedroom or, of course, the bathroom. My mom would push me and my brother to sing in public and we did, however I was always very nervous, and the nervousness turned into fear and hindered my vocal performance. This in turn made me want to stop singing. I used to stand in my bedroom and sing Whitney Houston songs and imagine myself on a big stage in front of thousands of people. In the privacy of my bedroom I felt secure and safe. Because I was not confident in my vocal ability when I was performing outside of my bedroom, I never considered a career in music or singing professionally. It was my mother who signed me up for an audition at Red Deer College for the music program. When I graduated four years later, I was told that I should not pursue music. Actually it was my performance class instructor at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton Alberta, who told me that I would not be successful as a musician or singer. As a performance major I was not allowed to perform in any ensembles and was told that my voice 'stuck out.' This was my first experience at music, since I started very late in life. I went to college at the age of 19 without any previous singing experience. I grew up in a small town of 500 people where there were no opportunities to sing. I was devastated and it was a huge ego blow but somehow I kept going. It was the songwriting that was my tool. But to this very day his voice rings in my ears and I have to burr it away and push myself harder. Also my father died when I was 15. At that point in my life it was my mission to help him change his life around. He was a songwriter and he had written all these songs for me and my brother. Unfortunately, when he died the songs died with him. I have never read one of his songs. I always wanted to make him proud and so I followed in his footsteps as a songwriter. It took me 20 years to visit his grave but finally this year I did it. It brought me the peace I was seeking.
BRANDON: How would you characterize yourself as an artist/musician? (Ex. Down-to-earth, serious, fun-loving, complicated…)
MICHELLE JOLY: I would say I am fun-loving and open to all ideas and possibilities. I go with the flow and if the flow is not happening I go with the next flow. I like spontaneity and I don’t like structure. I am very down-to-earth and love when my band mates have something to add. I love people and I honestly care about their input and advice. I don’t like structure because it leaves no room for creativity. Some of my musician friends are like, 'Michelle, you played that totally different than last time!' and I’m like, 'yeah, just keeping ya on your toes man.' But as a business woman, I tend be categorized as serious and straight to the point. I guess I don’t tolerate laziness, but welcome creativity.
 |
|
 |
BRANDON: What has your experience been like working with the other people on your team?
MICHELLE JOLY: Well I have had some amazing experiences and some terrible ones. For the album ‘Cold Home’ (which won the award), I have worked with three producers and several musicians. Most of which were very supportive and dedicated to my project. All of the musicians who played on this album would not take a cent from me. I offered and they refused. Amazing people. My first producer/engineer, Morgan McKee, was one of my teachers from Red Deer College. He is one person who truly believed in me. He has done incredible things for me but one of the most substantial things was that he wouldn’t take a penny from me to record my album. He believed so much in my project that he didn’t want anything from me. When I heard his beautiful keyboard parts on ‘One Way Lane’ I cried. It touched me that he worked on my project without me even being there. He hired musicians to sing and play on this album and took control where I was lacking-- and he didn’t ask for anything in return. I will go to my grave indebted to this man. Unfortunately, since moving to Vancouver, I have worked with one producer who sucked the life and the dollars out of me. He used me, put me down, and kept asking for more and more money. He didn’t pay me for any of the work I did for him on his album, but expected all this extra income from me. He refuses to give me several wave files from ‘Cold Home,’ my Christmas album, ‘All We Want For Christmas,’ and a couple of singles that I haven’t released. I paid for them, and to this very day he has yet to give them to me. Needless to say, I am no longer working with this man. He has made me a stronger person in the process and from which I have moved on to newer and better things. At the present moment I am working solo but have some wonderful people around me, supporting my every move: A beautiful lyricist, Jaz, and I are planning to release our first single together early next year, I work on projects with Smosa, my producer, and I have a business partner at my music studio that I teach from in North Vancouver, BC.
BRANDON: Did you come from a musical background? Are there other musicians in your family?
MICHELLE JOLY: I come from a very musical background. My mother is a singer-songwriter who gave it up for her children. She is, for obvious reasons, my number one fan. She grew up in a family band with her brothers, sisters, and parents. Needless to say, almost my whole family on her side plays and sings. My brother also sings and plays guitar and has written a few songs. I think he is an excellent singer and songwriter but it was not his passion to pursue it. I still have several people in my family who perform regularly. In September 2015 I was honored to sing at my grandparent’s 60th wedding anniversary. It was there for the first time that I saw my 80 year old grandfather sing with his 92 year old brother who also plays the fiddle!
BRANDON: What do you find most rewarding about being an artist? What do you find most challenging?
MICHELLE JOLY: I find it incredible that I can touch people with my voice. Sometimes when I sing, people cry. That is an experience that is so humbling that it is hard to put into words. I myself am a very sensitive soul and the language of music is the tie between all souls, no matter if you know each other or not. It is one of the greatest gifts of all to be able to inspire people through my voice and song. Like Shakespeare said, ‘If music be the food of love, play on.’ The most challenging part of music is the dedication to the craft and persevering when sometimes you don’t see the path ahead clearly. I feel all musicians can relate to this fear of the unknown, but in the same sense it is the drive that keeps us pushing forward.
BRANDON: Who are your role models in music?
MICHELLE JOLY: I have several role models, many musicians from the past and present. I hold high respect for all the artists in the game right now. The music today is high quality and the standard is set for perfection. I personally relate more to the old school raw musicians from way back, like Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Holiday. I grew a love for jazz when I went to college for music. It was the music that my voice could sing. I had never even heard jazz before as I came from a very small northern Alberta town called St.Paul. I studied a lot about Billy Holiday’s life and it really resonated with me. Her voice touched people in a way that no singer ever has to this day. She wore the sound of her blues on her voice and there has never been a sound like her since. I admire Joni Mitchell and Jan Arden, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Jack Johnson, Amos Lee, and John Legend. The incredible singing of Christina Aguilera and Beyonce simply blow me away. I love the rhythms and melodies these girls exude. I am lost for words on how Adele’s voice touches every part of my body. Although I don’t listen to Taylor Swift much, I teach a lot of her music. Every little girl wants to be Taylor Swift! As a songwriter, I admire her for her songwriting and dedication to her craft. I know as a vocal coach that she has worked a lot on her voice, and it shows. Her songwriting is simply brilliant and I think she has been an excellent role model for all generations.
BRANDON: Describe your best or most memorable performance.
MICHELLE JOLY: I think my most memorable performance was when I was in the audience at a White Horse concert, sitting with my friends having a drink, getting ready for the opening act, when the stage manager, who I know personally, came over and summoned me away with him. He then asked me if I would open for the band because the opening act was out back sick to her stomach. I happily agreed and opened up for one of the coolest husband and wife duos. They are incredible musicians and gorgeous singers. I was so nervous that I don’t remember actually performing!
BRANDON: What advice would you give to young, aspiring artists out there who are unsure and need guidance?
MICHELLE JOLY: I would say first and foremost, that if you want to make it in the music business you have to treat it like a business. Always sign an agreement/contract with anyone you work with, even friends. This has been a hard lesson for me to learn. We want it to be all lollipops and rainbows, but it doesn’t work that way. It needs to be a daily grind. A little bit everyday. Keep your goals in mind all the time. Think about them. Talk about them. Write them down. Work toward them. As long as you’re doing those things, then you will attain what you set out to do. But also, don’t forget to have fun. Be happy, be grateful, and always remember that you have been given an incredible gift.
BRANDON: What's next for you as an artist? Is there a new single in the works? If so, what can you tell us about it?
MICHELLE JOLY: I do have a new single coming out! It’s called ‘Run Run’ and it is produced by Smosa, who also produced my single ‘Wind Me Up’ (if you haven’t listened to it, check it out). But I’m also working on a new album coming out summer of 2016. I am producing it myself and have collaborated with a few musicians already. I’m excited to release this album, as it is the first time I have produced my music on my own. I’m also currently planning a tour for summer of 2016. I’m really excited to be back on the road. I’ve taken a couple of years off from touring, but it’s time, the time is now! If anyone reading this wants to connect, just hit me up on any of the social media sites and I promise to return the love. Peace and love.
BRANDON: I can't wait to hear what you produce! Thank you for letting me get to know you better as an artist. I wish you continued success in your career.
http://www.michellejolymusic.com
© 2024 Marquix Global Network
|
