We were lucky to catch up with Joselyn & Don recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Joselyn & Don thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
Joselyn & Don is a modern folk duo with my multi-instrumentalist husband Don Barrozo. We’ve had many previous musical projects, but for the past six years, we’ve been writing, recording and performing together, creating music inspired by our connection to nature, our life journey and one another. We’re working on our third album now with an incredible team including producer Graham Richman (Lizzie No), mixer Rachel Moore (T-Bone Burnett) and longtime Jackson Browne band members Mauricio Lewak (drums), Bob Glaub (bass) and Greg Leiz (pedal steel). We’re releasing our first single “Choose Love (featuring Chris Pierce)” October 4th and hope to release the album in early 2025!
Our self-released and produced 2020 debut album “Soar” and 2022 EP “Seeds & Bones” received strong reviews and were added to over 200 independent radio playlists, reaching number 5 on Roots Music Report’s Americana Album Chart and the Top 100 of the Americana Music Association’s album chart. We’ve toured venues throughout the West and supported artists including Chris Pierce, Chris Stills and Jess Williamson.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m a singer, songwriter and performer. I founded the women’s global fusion ensemble ADAAWE right out of college, and toured and performed with them for many years. For just as long, I’ve been writing and performing my own music in solo projects, and balancing my artist life with work in the nonprofit performing arts world as a teaching artist and administrator.
I grew up in Montana, where I felt very close to the natural beauty all around me, but socially I felt like an outsider. After attending UCLA, I stayed in LA where I started my music projects, met my husband and where we are raising a family. I love the artistic and cultural community here but I miss the wild beauty of my home state. Don is also from Montana, so we’ve bonded over our love of the natural world, and of course music! He’s a multi-instrumentalist/trumpet player/guitarist, and I’m a lyricist, songwriter and percussionist so our talents complement one another well. Musically we keep growing, and I’m extra happy that Don is singing more because the sound of our voices together is now my favorite sound.
Over the past year, our songwriting has taken a great step forward. After an extended stay in Montana last year, I felt compelled to confront my conflicted feelings about the dual identity that has shaped my life – the push and pull of home – the mountains and the city – who I was and who I hoped to be. I was driven to write a suite of songs that explored the “lost and found highway” of my own life as well as the literal journey I’ve made so many times. Together with Don, we perfected these songs pulled from our collective experience. Taking the bold chance to collaborate with an outside producer as well as legendary studio musicians was a catalytic moment in our development. So too was inviting master vocalist Chris Pierce and rising star Christina Vane to be featured on two of the songs. We reached out to all these collaborators and were gratified that they all said yes.
We’re looking forward to finishing the album and sharing it with the world!
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
We strive to create a feeling of community and warmth in our live performances, and want everyone to feel like they’re invited to the party. Our songs are about connection – to one another, our deeper selves and to our natural world. If there’s any mission driving our creative journey, it’s to inspire connection, to lift up ourselves and our listeners, and find a way to express those difficult experiences that we all go through, to find healing together.
Our single “Choose Love (feat. Chris Pierce)” is a soulful and personal statement (with a killer groove) that says even though we might be angry about the divisiveness and hate that seem to be pulling our country apart, we can choose to love and join together into a “loving revolution” to make a change. We don’t have to shy away from history or truth to feel strong, and we really can be all in this moment together. This song felt very timely to us, so we decided to release it as the first single off our new album.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Society can best support artists by going to see their work! Engaging with them online also helps to build their following and teach the algorithm to push their work out – that’s the world we’re living in now! But, buying music from artists directly and purchasing tickets to their concerts is always the most effective way to support. Right now, we just want everyone to hear our music – so please stream “Choose Love” on October 4th and beyond, save it to your playlists, follow Joselyn & Don on all the platforms and let us know how it moves you! Thanks for listening.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://joselynanddon.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/joselynanddon
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/joselynanddon
- Twitter: https://x.com/JoselynW
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JoselynandDon
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/joselynanddon
- Other: https://tidal.com/browse/artist/18198951?u
Image Credits
Photography and Design: Anna Haas Creative