My Music with Rhiannon Giddens

Lights in the valley outshine the sun Lights in the valley outshine the sun Way beyond the blue Way beyond the blue, one more time And it's way beyond the blue Joy Clark has been blessed with a musical, supportive family and grew up steeped in the sounds of the church that her family went to.

And it was at that church that she saw the thing that was going to help her find her voice and tell her stories.

The guitar.

And ever since she got her first guitar, she has been on a beautiful journey from not seeing anybody who looks like her in the guitar magazines at the store, to being on the cover of a guitar magazine herself I gaze at the sky.

A cardinal flies by and I hear her song [imitates bird call] and I sing along.

But then a thought creeps in my head It takes me outta my element Listing problems A to Z Anxiety and fear and stress, But then a little voice inside tells me I'm gonna be all right.

I got everything I need, All Ive gotta do is sing.

La la la, la la la La la la, la la la La la la, la la la La la la, la la la I gaze at a tree and I see a bee He's buzzing around where the flowers abound.

But then a thought creeps in my head and tells me Im inadequate Listing problems A to Z, all my insecurities But then a little voice inside tells me Im gonna be all right I am everything I need, all Ive gotta do is sing La la la, la la la La la la, la la la La la la, la la la La la la, la la la La la la, la la la La la la, la la la La la la, la la la La la la, la la la La la la, la la la La la la... Let me tell you if I could stay, oh then I would stay here with my blanket and my ginger beer I could solo to the songs I hear, the sings I hear round here Now if I could stay, oh then I would stay here with my blanket and my ginger beer I could solo to the songs I hear, the songs I hear round here Let me tell you if I could stay, oh then I would stay here with my blanket and my ginger beer I could solo to the songs I hear, the songs I hear round here La la la, la la la la la la, la la la La la la, la la la la la la, la la la La la la, la la la la la la, la la la La la la, la la la la la la, la la la Thank you for being here with me.

This is amazing.

I'm excited to be here.

Tell me what your what was your aural landscape, you know, growing up?

What did you hear?

What did you absorb?

What was going in?

Oh, church.

I was in church a lot.

Grew up in a nondenominational church.

So... My dad sang in the choir.

My grandpa sang in the choir.

I remember seeing the praise and worship team, as we call it, and I remember locking eyes on the guitar, and something about it... ...

I feel like I knew it was sexy before I knew what sexy meant.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

It's one of those things where I just I saw it and I knew I could do it, and I really wanted to do it.

And I would take a tennis racket.

I remember having a tennis racket before I had a guitar and I would act like that was my guitar.

R: Oh my god, you played tennis racket?

I played tennis racket.

I didn't play tennis but...

So a lot of the music I listened to were singer songwriters.

It was just the Christian landscape of it.

But I still loved lyrics, you know, I love melody and love lyrics.

So that's what was around.

And my dad sang, we would sing in the car and we would sing, you know, songs from movies and wed just naturally harmonize.

So it was always, it was just there.

That's how I used to do with my dad.

We used to sing and harmonize in the car.

So when you said that, I was like Oh my god... When I was growing up, we could only listen to, like, spiritual music.

So I was pretty sheltered in that aspect.

So you weren't, you weren't getting the MTV or the, you know, the pop music, you werent exposed to it?

I was exposed, like through friends.

But we didn't have cable until like actually September 11th, 2001.

So thats a weird-- that's pretty weird.

But yeah, Really?

That day?

Thats when you got cable?

That's when we got cable in my household.

R: Oh my gosh.

But I mean, I had friends and I would learn about shows through there.

I would hear things that that my friends were listening to.

But... in the home, it was pretty... it was pretty sheltered when it came to music because my parents were really religious.

R: Okay.

J: Grew up in the New Orleans area.

I grew up in a suburb of New Orleans about 15 minutes outside.

Harvey, Louisiana, thats where I grew up.

My family's from there.

My maternal grandparents are still there.

I'm blessed to still have them around.

Once I started playing out, there were so many opportunities to sit in with funk bands, I started playing with Cyril Neville at one time.

I mean, New Orleans is... what else can you say?

Right.

Right.

It's a very fertile, very fertile.

How do we get from the tennis racket to the guitar?

Thats what I want to know.

J: Yeah!

Yeah.

So my parents bought me a guitar.

They put it on layaway.

I don't know if you remember layaway.

I remember layaway.

You know, I got a few years on you.

I remember layaway .

Well, they got me this blue guitar from a pawn shop, and I got the guitar and I had this folk VHS tape, you know?

You remember VHS?

Yeah.

And it was just folk songs, you know, Crying Holy to the Lord Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley .

It was folk stuff.

All open chords, and I mastered that tape, you know, Boom dinka doo doo, hammer ons.

That's how I, that's how I learned and I mastered that tape.

And then by that time, I was branching into my my chosen music, which was, you know, a lot of Sade.

And Tracy Chapman was in there and and I just played by ear.

Before I got a guitar, I had this Casio keyboard.

Oh yeah, the Casio keyboard!

And I was just playing melodies by ear to Boyz 2 Men songs, Celine Dion, like in that 95 era.

So this is...so at this point you are hearing outside music.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm hearing.

You can't avoid it.

I played sports, so I would be in my friend's car and I would hear music and just hammer out the the melodies, totally by ear That's how it started.

Yeah.

Twelve years old, square peg, round hole.

Blue guitar and walks to the park Oh, oh.

Baggy jeans and a fresh white tee My hair blowing free the wind behind me Autumn sky The moss hangin high And Im right where I wanna be I never saw myself in the magazines I never saw myself on TV screens And I wonder, who am I supposed to be?

I had to love myself I had to love myself You gotta learn to love yourself You gotta love yourself I've been told Don't be too bold Girls don't do this.

Girls don't do that, and so on but I listen to my heart I never play that part.

I'll choose who I'm gonna be See if I knew back then what I know now I wouldnt worry if I stood out; Id take those doubts and turn them into jewels and I would love myself.

Yeah I would love myself You gotta learn to love yourself You gotta love yourself.

I said you gotta love.

your.

self.

I said if I could go back in time Id look her in the eye and tell her You are so perfect If I could go back in time Id look her in the eye and tell her You are so perfect If I could go back in time Id look her in the eye and tell her and tell her You are so perfect If I could go back in time, Id look her in the eye And tell her You are so perfect You're so perfect.

You are so perfect.

You are so perfect.

You are so perfect.

You are so perfect.

I feel like the guitar was like a conduit for my feelings and for my my true self.

It was self affirming for me.

So your parents were obviously... Yeah, it totally makes sense since your parents obviously like, felt that, because they... got you a guitar.

J: Yeah.

How did they you know, were they okay with the fact that you were starting to play other things, you weren't playing contemporary Christian music all the time.

J: Yeah.

Well, you know I started playing in church, so my dad encouraged that, and I really thrived in church.

And it was me and my brother playing in the church band.

My brother plays drums, so it was just me and the guitar and drums.

It wasn't a lot of pushback of like You can't play secular music.

It was just She's playing music, you know, it was more they were just proud that I was playing.

So that's a blessing.

Supportive parents.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that that gave me a really strong sense of who I am, even though when I did start playing guitar, Oh, you know, Are you trying to be country, are you trying to be white?

You know.

R: Yes.

You know, that's a white instrument.

Yeah.

You know, I don't see any-- you know, I would go in the store, and I would go to the magazine section-- and I love guitar, so I would go and look at the magazines, and I would never see myself.

And so that, that was a... that was a real pain.

And it really made me really not like those types of magazines.

I don't want to hear about gear.

Yall are talking to the same people.

And it made me a little reluctant to, to, to buy it.

I went through a lot of times of feeling like...embarrassed that I played guitar sometimes because knowing that people were going to point it out and say, Oh, you know, that's weird.

And you're home schooled?

And you can only listen to special music...?

So it took a lot of it took a lot of will and self-assurance to kind of put that aside and just really know in my gut, I know that this is going to be the key to my life.

So when did you know that because you're you're playing, but you're playing covers, You start accompanying singers, so like, when did you know that you had songs in you?

I had a crush on someone when I was in in college and I went out into the courtyard and I just... the song started to pour out of me and that's just it sort of came naturally just after listening to a lot of singer songwriters, that was kind of the moment where, Oh, maybe I have lyrics.

Oh, this, this goes together.

This fits.

Because I see songwriting as you're, you're figuring out a puzzle.

You figure out which word, what can go here.

And once I did that, I felt it.

R: Right.

I just knew.

Yeah, I just knew that maybe I could be good at this.

When you lie next to me, I feel like I'm dreaming.

When you lie close to me, I feel reborn.

So just say the word and I will be here I will be here.

I will not brag I will not boast All I want to do is hold you close So just say the word and I will be here I will be here.

'Cause I will not brag and I will not boast All I wanna do is hold you close So just say the word and I will be here I will be here Oh I will be here I will be here Id just got gotten broken up with and I was just yeah I was in a tender moment, it was really hard because the message of the song is is like a tender togetherness message and it's not a breakup song.

But I think when, when I approach writing, I'm not really approaching lyrically, I'm approaching guitar lyrically.

So I'll pick up the guitar.

And if I, you know, play something, it will remind me of a lyric that I've never heard before.

Oh, wow.

So wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

I want to break through tha It will remind you of a lyric that you've never heard.

Yes, yes.

That is profound.

Yes.

Im stealing it.

Oh yeah please, you can steal anything.

Where do you see yourself in... 15 years?

I see myself on a farm with a horse and a mango tree.

I love that.

That is so specific!

With my partner.

With my fiancee.

R: Beautiful.

Thats where I see myself.

And wheres the guitar?

Oh the guitars there.

R: Okay.

Three things I wanted when I was a kid.

Guitar, horse, and boots.

R: Wow.

I'm still waiting on that horse.

Hey, you know, all things in their time.

So it just leads me to... you know, I've just been thinking about this as we've been talking.

You know, there's this idea that artists have to be tortured to make good art.

You know what I mean?

They have to be, like, suicidal or they have to be, you know?

And it's not to say that there aren't there's a lot of amazing artists who are, like, mentally, you know, they didn't get the help they needed or they didn't have the childhood that could, you know, give them a centering it.

And they made incredible art, but they had horrible lives.

And I think that what I'm seeing now is more of an emphasis on what is our mental health.

And what do you think about, you know, the art that we're making in our centeredness?

I remember being at a music conference and this guy approached me and and I could tell he was trying to be my fan or trying to enjoy my music, but I could see he he wanted... like, me singing about love for some reason wasn't really enough.

So I remember him saying, You know, you should find, like, a cause or you should ... Hes just sort of telling me what to sing about.

Because singing about love and singing about just well-being and self-affirmation in some way was... More pain.

He wanted to hear some more pain.

R: Thats interesting.

J: I think specifically for black artists that is the push.

Yeah, I could I could sing about social justice.

Yes, I can.

I can, I do, you know, I can.

But I am a person.

I have feelings, too.

It doesn't always have to be a cause.

I think your personal story can be your cause.

You know, joy can be your cause.

I'm not making a pun, even though I love them.

Yeah, But you know, let black people sing about what they want to sing about.

Let us sing about life.

Let us sing about, you know, love lost.

Let us sing about wanting to, you know, to sit in the park and shoot the breeze.

It doesn't always have to be... struggle Because you know we've got a good thing and a good things not so easy to find.

Yeah you know we've got a good thing so take my hand and it'll be all right.

Just take my hand and itll be all right.

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