Quick Q and A with Nancy Josephson (Angel Band)
 by Kathy S-B  ·  22 January 2011

The Angel Band is a powerhouse of talent. The tight harmonies are heavenly and the instrumental accompaniment is beyond compare. It isn’t every band that gets an accolade from Linda Ronstadt, who says: “I love Angel Band’s wonderful strong voices and beautiful songs!” This is a band to savor because it delivers in so many ways!

For more information about the band go to their website and take some time to watch this lovely video of the Angel Band’s work in earthquake stricken Haiti.

Your music is a regular potpourri of styles: folk, gospel, Americana, country. When you sit down to write a song, do you intentionally decide on a particular genre or does it just come about organically?

I really don’t have a genre in mind when I start writing. Usually a phrase or idea pops into my mind, then I run with it. Frequently something I see or hear outside my head (!) catches which will roll around until something comes together lyrically. Marc Moss (guitarist) and I then get together and work on the music. Sometimes this is where it begins to get genre specific. Also we start the discussion about whose voice is best suited for the song.

The Angel Band has been compared to the Dixie Chicks quite a bit — probably in part due to the fact that Lloyd Maines was involved with the project. What do you say to those who want to compare you to the Dixie Chicks?

I’m flattered at the comparison. The Chicks are a great band who have the harmony AND the attitude. I think our sound is a bit more roots-y and each of the Angel Band vocalists bring something different to the table that enable us to break genre. Lloyd was amazing to work with. I sat in on all the sessions for “With Roots and Wings”. It was like going to school with a master teacher.

“Hope is On the Way” is a very positive song and was written at a time of historical change in this country. Its message is more important now than ever, wouldn’t you say?

I think it’s an important message ALWAYS.

“Didn’t See It Coming” is a very powerful song. Have you spent any time in New Orleans since Katrina?

Oddly enough this song didn’t stem directly from Katrina. I was in an overseas airplane listening to Chris Whitely (one of my favorite singer/songwriters). I was LOVING how he painted such a specific picture. You could smell the dirt in the song. That’s what I wanted to do in Didn’t See it Coming. That it wove a story that was about this kid just hanging out listening to the radio one minute...and the next minute the world just changed . . . is about Katrina and ANY natural disaster, I guess.

Tell us about your involvement with Haitian art and voodou culture. (Is there a difference between voodoo and voodou?) By the way, the cover art of Bless My Sole is outstanding.

I’ve been going down to Haiti for almost 15 years. I went down as an artist (doing visual art) to meet other artists. In the process I found a different world, a different voice which ended up morphing into pieces that have integrated into who I am and what I do. I ended up writing a book called Spirits in Sequins: Vodou Flags of Haiti after working with most of the flagmakers over the course of years. The textile (flag) on the cover of Bless My Sole was designed by me and fabricated by one of the great makers, Georges Valris.

I have been studying Vodou for the years I have been going to Haiti. Vodou is what the religion is called in Haiti. Voodoo is what it’s called here. There is so much negative stigma attached to the word Voodoo that the other pronunciation takes some of the “weird” off of it, I think.