STEVE RAPPORT
JOY CLARK
The word “joy” came up twice in my recent interview with Joy Clark, and she wasn’t referring to her own name. “My music is about love and trust, and it’s about joy,” she said. Also, “My job is to bring hope through songwriting, and bring love and bring joy.”
Clark — who will perform at the Split Level Concerts series at The Jersey Shore Arts Center in Ocean Grove, March 21 — is a New Orleans-based singer-songwriter who has worked extensively with artists such as Allison Russell and The Neville Brothers’ Cyril Neville, and who hs released two albums: an EP, Here, in 2020, and a full-length album, Tell It to the Wind, in 2024. The latter came out on the Ani DiFranco-founded Righteous Babe label.
She grew up in religious family, and her first musical experiences were in church; there is still more than a hint of gospel in her warm, deeply emotional vocal style. Many of her songs reflect her journey to find a place for herself in the music world — and the world, period — as a Black, gay woman.
“I’ve been living like a guest in my own life/I’ve been missing happiness, settling for less in my own life,” she confesses in “Guest” (listen below). And in “One Step in the Right Direction,” she sings: “I feel the sun shining on my face/I know this road is not a race/So I’ll keep going my own pace/Until I find my place.”
In “Lesson,” she recounts wisdom imparted by her grandmother. And in the Tell It to the Wind title track (listen below), she thinks back to the girl she once was, listening to the wind outside her room and thinking it could “take my dreams and set them free.
Even now, she sings, “as I travel back and forth to distant lands/I know the wind still takes me further than I planned.”
I talked to her recently by phone.
The cover of Joy Clark’s album, “Tell It to the Wind.”
Q: Are you performing solo in New Jersey, or will you have a band?
A: I’m bringing my trio, so I’m bringing Jentleman Sharp on keys and vocals, and Tiffany Morris will be on bass and vocals.
Q: Is that how you usually perform?
A: It depends. A lot of times I’m solo. If I’m opening for another artist, normally I’m solo. If I’m home (in New Orleans), it’s better to call my people because if I don’t have to travel, there’s not an extra cost to it. It just depends on the budget.
Q: If cost was not a factor, would you like to have an even larger band?
A: It depends on what I wanna do. I think I’m good at solo: I’m good at holding that full space. And I love sharing the stage with players.
Q: A lot of your songs have intricate arrangements — they’re pretty fleshed out in recorded form. So I would imagine, to get the full effect, it might really help in some cases to have a bunch of other musicians with you.
A: Yeah, it’s cool to be able to stretch the show, and stretch the arrangements, and to have those moments where somebody takes a solo or I can just kind of back off and have it flow. I think that’s always a powerful moment.
Q: At this point you’ve released an EP and a full-length album. What do you see as the progression from one to the other, for you as an artist?
A: Well, that EP that I put out, that was actually recorded before pandemic. I had it for a little while: It was probably recorded in, like, the beginning of ’19. And then once the pandemic started, I felt really disconnected from people. I think the thing that performing does … you know, when you perform live, you have this intense connection. And around the beginning of the pandemic, I was feeling pretty disconnected. It just felt, you know, crazy. And then I realized how important having that connection to the audience was, for me. So I decided to put that EP out because I wanted to feel that connection to an audience again. I think I put a single out before the EP came out. But I put (the EP) out in late 2020.
And then Tell It to the Wind turned out to be, like, my thesis album. It’s about dreams and trusting my intuition. So I feel much more established, here. And I think that’s as it should be.
STEVE RAPPORT
JOY CLARK
Q: Can you tell me a little more about what you mean by your “thesis album.”
A: I think growing as a human …. most of it is learning how to trust yourself. And I think coming up in a pretty evangelical home … you’re always told to not trust yourself. So for most of my years growing up, that’s the thing that you hear: “You have to trust God before you can trust yourself.” And I think as time has passed, the choices that I’ve made and the connections I’ve made with people have proved that type of teaching to be false.
I remember when I came out in 2018 … I used to play at church and I came out and I was dismissed from playing music at church. I could have just quit after that type of experience, but I firmly believe that music is supposed to connect people and my music is about love and trust, and it’s about joy.
And I think people … that’s the message people need to hear right now. We have organizations like ICE that are profiling people, and that’s pure evil, and that’s fear-based. And as a Black American, I am well acquainted with that. And as an artist, it’s my job to bring hope through songwriting, and bring love and bring joy. And bring celebration. I really do love what I do, and I’m doing what I need to be doing at this moment. And I can’t wait to do that in New Jersey (laughs).
Q: To what extent is a song like “Tell It to the Wind” autobiographical? I mean, are you writing directly from your life?
A: That one is autobiographical, yeah. I call that my thesis song. That’s about when you have a dream for yourself, sometimes you can’t share it all the time. You just have to pursue it. I’d like to say that sometimes you can’t tell people your dreams, but you can always tell it to the wind, and the wind will take it and make those dreams come true. I think it’s really just following your passion and trusting your path. That is what I’ve been doing throughout the years and I’m just figuring it out and I’m just trying to pursue that and share that hope.
STEVE RAPPORT
JOY CLARK
Q: Are you working on your next album?
A: I’m always writing. I’m on the road and, you know, something comes up and I get up early and chase it down. I’m driving and something comes and I chase it down. But I’m just taking care of myself, taking care of my heart, and doing the best I can.
Q: When that album comes out, will it be on Righteous Babe?
A: Um, most likely, yeah. I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. It’s a pretty cool situation, but I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know what’s gonna happen next week. But yeah, I’m enjoying this time and it’s been really cool to hear people’s feedback of Tell It to the Wind and how certain songs are helping them through a certain season of their lives. It’s like I have a kid out in the world, having an effect on people. So that feels really good and, like I said, I’m always writing, so if that turns into an album, that’s what it’ll be. Or if it turns out that it’s an EP … who knows?
Q: When you were starting out, was Ani DiFranco a big influence or inspiration for you?
A: Actually, no. I really didn’t start listening to Ani until my late, late 20s. It’s kind of cool to become a fan a little bit later on because I got to share the stage with her when I opened for her about a year ago and it’s like I’ve just fallen in love with her songs. And just getting to hear her live and then to sit and talk to her … it’s like a newfound fan, you know.
Q: She’s got so many albums. It would take you years to catch up and really listen to everything.
A: Right. I mean, she put out the album Revolutionary Love. It might have come out in 2020 or 2021. I love that song and I love that album. She’s got so much to chew on, so I’ve been enjoying diving in. And she’s a great person, great conversation … I always have a good time talking to her. I’m pretty blessed right now.
Q: The opener for the show in New Jersey is a woman named Sug Daniels. Is that someone you know?
A: Yeah. We actually did a house concert in Philly in 2023. She’s got amazing energy and she’s got the biggest smile. She just lights up a room and I can’t wait to have her on that show.
Joy Clark and Sug Daniels will perform at The Split Level Concerts series at The Jersey Shore Arts Center in Ocean Grove, March 21 at 8 p.m.; visit jerseyshoreartscenter.org.
For more about Joy Clark, visit joyclarkmusic.com.
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