Quick Q and A with Joyce Andersen
 by Kathy S-B  ·  2 December 2007

Joyce Andersen and Harvey Reid are me&thee coffeehouse favorites. It’s a treat when either of them performs at our venue but having both of them is an even bigger delight. Joyce and Harvey have one of the most lovely Christmas recordings ever released. Christmas Morning combines traditional tunes with some unexpected treasures like Willie Nelson’s “Pretty Paper” and Stan Rogers’ “First Christmas Away From Home.” The me&thee show will not only include Christmas tunes, so be prepared to tap your toes, clap your hands, and sing along as Harvey and Joyce entertain. Check out this video of Joyce performing.

How do you manage to do all that you do? You are juggling being a mom, playing solo, with your band, and with Harvey?

Becoming a mother has been completely life altering and I just love it. My gigging has definitely slowed down and for the most part I have stayed fairly local. But I did have a wonderful California tour with Otto, then 14 months, and my dad came along as the nanny. That worked out great. And Harvey and I tour with Otto sometimes, setting up babysitting for each gig along the way. I formed a band not long after Otto was born to play a weekly residency in my hometown through the summer. That was artistically exciting despite it just being a casual gig. And you can’t beat the commute. I got to learn all sorts of new songs, sing in new ways, rockin’ over a band, and just let out a lot of emotion and energy that was decidedly not about motherhood.

When did you realize that music would be such a big part of your future? Did you play any instruments or sing as a youngster?

I played violin as a youngster and barely kept it up through high school and a bit in college. After college I was yearning to play music, non-classical, about the time I saw Harvey Reid in concert. That was 17 years ago. He turned me on to some great music to learn and I started immersing myself in the local music scene around Portsmouth, NH — the Irish sessions, bluegrass, swing. I was flipping out as I kept discovering new genres of music that I hadn’t even heard growing up. The feeling was indistinguishable from falling in love with a person. I naively decided I wanted to make my living by following the music wherever it took me. And it has taken me a lot of places. I didn’t even know I’d become a singer and a songwriter, but those two aspects of my music may bring me the most joy as it turns out.

Do you have any inklings as to how musical Otto is? Will there be a new entity called the Andersen Reid Reid Band?

Otto is very musical. Just last night I sat and watched him, at 2 years old, as he jumped around on “stage” and played air drums, bass, mandolin and banjo and sang into the air microphone. He sings a killer Twinkle, too.

I hear all kinds of influences on your music. . . . Do you have any special way in which you categorize your music?

It’s kind of a challenge to reconcile all of my influences into a cohesive body of music but it all works out somehow. Playing solo I can jump from a Billie Holiday ballad to Irish fiddle tunes and my audience can handle it, it’s just me. I’m not going from a swing band to an Irish band. But, come to think of it, I did do that with The Joyce Andersen Band. Ha ha! And it went over great. It’s the music business that would have trouble with it, but I’m really not in the music business. As far as how I would categorize my originals songs, they run the gamut from traditional folk oriented songs to folk/pop songs. But with my band I play blues, classic country and rock as well.