Today we’d like to introduce you to Joselyn Wilkinson.
Hi Joselyn, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Living an artist’s life can look like so many different things. Some folks work is known throughout the world, and some just to their community, but notoriety is not what makes an artist feel fulfilled. I think what’s most important is finding and expressing your unique truth, working deeply on your craft, and staying engaged in your world. That’s what I strive to do anyway in my life, work, and art.
I’m a singer, songwriter, and performer. I founded the women’s global fusion ensemble ADAAWE right out of college and have been touring and performing with them ever since. 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’ve been blessed to work with Grand Vision Foundation in San Pedro for many years, supporting music education and live performance.
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 Montana terribly. My music often explores these ideas of home and identity, which I think are universal but can look so different depending on your life experience. Hopefully, music and art is where we can build empathy by listening to each other’s stories.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As an independent artist, the biggest challenge is doing it all! We get to create our work, tell people about it, and build an audience for it. It’s difficult to do all of that when folks see you on the same platforms as major artists who have teams to support their work. So, please remember to give extra love to independents! Make an effort to follow their channels, “like” their songs, comment on their posts, and share (and actually purchase) their music. It makes a HUGE difference in their lives. If someone downloads a song from me, I make close to $1. If they stream my song, I make $0.003. So, our recorded music ends up being almost a giveaway, and we only make income by performing live. But what a gift to get to create live music for people to enjoy! We are so grateful when folks come out to support live music and hope that we can give them something special to enrich their lives.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Joselyn & Don is my modern folk duo. For the past six years, my husband, Don Barrozo, and I have been writing, recording, and performing original music inspired by our connection to nature, life, and one another. We’re working on our third album now, and I’d like to say that we’ve really hit our stride. But this project feels very much like a scavenger hunt, where the process of recording each song is a search for the right sound and an approach that feels true! We’re inspired by the songs we’ve written for it – they feel personal but universal, catchy yet unexpected – but we’re still finding the sound. Will this album be more straight-ahead Americana, more of a full-band sound? Or will it be more of an alternative pop/folk sound that plays across genres? We’re starting to lean into the second one because Don is a very creative producer, and his muse leads to unexpected places.
It’s appropriate for the process of recording this album to be a journey because the subject matter is very personal. It’s tentatively called “Lost & Found Highway” and is about finding our sense of home and identity on the backroads of the American West and rediscovering our truth. Life is always a journey if we’re living authentically, I think. Just when you think you’ve figured it out, the ground shifts underneath your feet, right? Some of the songs are sounding really great already, and we’re excited to release at least a new single later this year.
Our 2020 Joselyn & Don debut album “Soar” and 2022 EP “Seeds & Bones” received strong reviews and were played by independent radio around the world, reaching number 5 on Roots Music Report’s Americana Album Chart and the Top 100 of the Americana Music Association’s album chart. The past couple years, we’ve toured venues throughout California (Hotel Cafe, Lost Chord Guitars, The Lost Church, Grand Annex, Nakano Theater) and supported great artists, including Chris Pierce, Chris Stills (with Lukas Nelson), Lauren Monroe (with Rick Allen) and Jess Williamson. Last year, we were presented at the FAR-West folk conference in Woodland Hills, and we were featured in Noel Paul Stookey’s (Peter, Paul & Mary) curated Greenwich Village Folk Festival.
We’ll be back performing at the Grand Annex on May 4th, supporting Abby Posner (tickets are going fast!), and have a few other Southern California dates in the works. We’ll be playing in Montana this July, Arizona in November, and the San Diego area in December. The best place for folks to connect with Joselyn & Don is on our website and social media for shows and new music. Please follow us on all your platforms!
I’m also singing and playing percussion with ADAAWE and looking forward to traveling to northern California this month to play at the Grand Theater in Tracy, California. We do lots of educational shows, and it is wonderful to engage the next generation in live music while sharing history and culture as a group of powerful, diverse women.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
I love books that I can reach for, even when I just have a moment, and immediately be transported to a different state or creative place. On my nightstand now are “Women Who Run with the Wolves” by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, “Finding the Mother Tree” by Suzanne Simard (are you seeing a pattern here lol?), and a biography of Crazy Horse. As natives of Montana, of course, we also had to read comedian Reggie Watt’s hilarious new biography, “Great Falls, Montana.”
Pricing:
- Joselyn & Don “Seeds & Bones” CD $12
- Joselyn & Don with Abby Posner, Grand Annex, May 4th, $23
Contact Info:
- Website: https://joselynanddon.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/joselynmuse
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/joselynanddon
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JoselynandDon
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0aPNQejuOJ9winrYgyjvbF
Image Credits
Joselyn Wilkinson, Don Barrozo
Photography: Gina Valona
Live Photography: Taso Papadakis
https://voyagela.com/interview/life-work-with-joselyn-wilkinson-of-los-angeles/