We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bethany Joy. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bethany below.

Bethany, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

This is a topic I think about often! I have a BA degree in ASL Interpreting and I have been a professional interpreter for almost 10 years. For about three years after graduation, I held a full time job with an agency as an interpreter. At the same time, I was developing my skills on guitar and in the evenings performing at open mics around town, learning how to play on a stage. After working the 9-5 life for a few years, my discontent had grown so much that I couldn’t bear to do it anymore. Although I LOVED being an interpreter, the amount of time and energy the job took from me was completely draining. I had nothing left in me to be able to create outside of work.

Serendipitously, just as my burnout was peaking, I got a “job offer” to be in a local touring band singing backup vocals and playing keyboard. I saw it as a sign and made the leap – I quit my day job, kicked my health insurance, hopped in a van a month later and was on the road performing nightly. When I was back in town I picked up side jobs: bartending, hosting an open mic, playing gigs, and contract interpreting. The freedom that came with picking up and going on the road for a few weeks, coming back and getting money when I could; that freedom made me feel completely alive. It directly fed my creative energy and allowed me to pour myself into my musical craft, the community around me, and expand in ways I never thought possible.

Had I stayed in that 9-5 life, the creative part of me very well could have died. I felt it happening. I gained tremendous insight from taking that risk and following my intuition. The insight is: time is more valuable than money. That is actually a lyric in one of my songs! For me, no amount of money is worth taking 80% of my time and energy. Life goes by too quickly and is too vibrant for me to spend it in one building for 40 hours a week for years on end. I am fortunate to be able to maintain my job as a professional interpreter in a contract position without having to commit to one agency for any length of time. But ultimately, creativity and music won. My life wouldn’t be complete without that front and center.

Bethany, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a signer songwriter, guitar and piano player, music educator and recording artist. I have made 3 recorded EP’s and one full length album titled PLANET which I released in September, 2022. My sound has evolved from folk to indie rock to soul and jazz. I have influences from multiple genres, but the throughline in my music is the soul that I put into everything I do.

I didn’t choose to be a musician. Before I remember speaking, I remember singing. At home I would lie on the floor and listen to my mother play the piano, feeling the vibration of the song move through the ground into my body. As soon as I could reach the keys, I was picking out tunes by ear. By five years old I was taking piano lessons and continued classical piano training for 7 years. When no one was home, I would blast my favorite songs and sing at the top of my lungs, pretending I was on a stage. Imagining a crowd of people watch me belt sent goosebumps down my arms. Music has always been visceral for me, and I am compelled to keep creating it.

After college I picked up the guitar and started to frequent open mics. There I awkwardly stumbled into learning how to perform. Luckily, Northeast Ohio is brimming with ridiculously talented and kind-hearted people who embraced me and encouraged me to keep at it. Since those early days I’ve become a piano teacher, songwriting teacher in the K-8 setting, a local show booker and promoter, an open mic host, and general music community leader and enthusiast.

When the pandemic hit, I started taking virtual guitar lessons from a teacher a couple hours south of me. His patience and expertise combined with my diligent practicing enhanced my playing tenfold. I came out of the pandemic ready to make a record. I recruited some of the best players I knew in the area to create my first full lenth album, PLANET, which I couldn’t be more proud of.

What sets me apart from other musicians is the “why” behind why I do what I do. I create music because it is a gift I was given at birth and my spirit is compelled to do it. I don’t seek fame or fortune, I have a hard time even promoting my own successes. My community is everything to me. Forging friendships with other musicians, going to their shows to support them, bringing WOMEN onto local stages, giving them a platform and a safe space to be performers – those are the things that motivate me. Supporting/engaging those around me and creating authentic, meaningful music are the things that fulfill me most. My notoriety and popularity have a minimal effect on the joy that I receive from being a musician.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In early 2021 as shows were just beginning again, I played one specific show that completely destroyed my ego. The room was not interested in what I was performing, it was hard to be heard over the noise, and I left feeling completely defeated. I realized the songs that I had written in the past no longer suited me or the environments I found myself in. The next couple shows I had to play were extremely difficult. I paced outside the venues, sometimes in tears, barely able to get myself on stage to perform.

This experience led me to start over. I scrapped most of what I had written and dove into new genres, challenging myself to play harder progressions and take up more space sonically. What I got out of this what an entire album of new material that I am extremely proud of. People who have seen me since that time have told me I seem different, I’ve reached another level. To me that level is simply not being content with singing quietly in the background anymore. I can be loud, vulnerable, take up space and proudly show the hard work I’ve put into developing my craft.

What I would describe as an ego death led me to a beautiful rebirth. I would encourage artists to take what they perceive as “failures” and turn them into an opportunity to grow, maybe even completely reinvent themselves, and keep on pursuing their art.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

One of the best resources I have ever come by is the book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. I wish I had this book as a teenager! It was recommended to me by a friend when I was about 26 years old. It’s an amazing tool for artists of ANY kind and I highly recommend it! It outlines many of the common pitfalls artists find themselves in and gives you exercises to overcome your blockages. It addresses the negative self-talk that is so pervasive in all of us and retrains your brain into encouraging your progress instead of constantly doubting and diminishing your development.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bethanyjoymusic.net/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethany_joy_official/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BethanyJoy.Music
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbmz6aBNBSyO5J2KBQjxn5w
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/75IE67SzczSSgzobSZj3SG

Image Credits
James Cooper Shelby Muter Jackson Richardson