Joyann Parker grew up in Mellen, Wisconsin. She taught herself to play the guitar and started studying classical piano at age four. She earned a degree in instrumental education from the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse. She then moved to Minneapolis where she briefly taught music in elementary schools. After another stint as a stay-at-home mom, she became an assistant to Mark Lamoine, a lawyer, who ultimately became the guitarist in her band and her-co-writing partner.<\/p>\n
Joyann grew up listening to country and classic rock music. She initially did a Patsy Cline Tribute show which won the top prize at the Midwest Country Music Awards. She also had a revue, Classic Ladies of Country, <\/em>featuring songs from female country stars from the 1950\u2019s to the 1970\u2019s.\u00a0 But after discovering Muddy Waters, followed by Robert Johnson, and then many more blues influences, she turned her interests to blues music. Her band, Joyann Parker and Sweet Tea, represented the Minnesota\u2019s Blues Society in the 2015 International Blues Challenge.<\/p>\n Roots\u00a0<\/em>is her third album release. The core performers are Joyann on guitar, keyboards and vocals, Mark Lamoine on guitar and backing vocals, Tim Wick on keyboards, Chris Bates on bass, and Bill Golden on drums and percussion. All songs on the album are originals.<\/p>\n The album opens with the rocking title song as she declares \u201d I put my roots down, down in the ground\u201d and she has to make sure they are solid after being \u201cupended by the hurricanes of life\u201d. \u201cFaintly optimistic\u201d sounds like a song Bob Seger might have written as Mark performs a duet with her as he declares \u201cthis time we might make it\u201d and she responds, \u201cwe will have to wait and see\u201d.<\/p>\n Things slow down with \u201cWash It Away\u201d, a moving, soulful song identifying how she hopes to turn her life around after acknowledging that \u201cthe pain is going to come, and the rain is not going to wash it away.\u201d That is followed by \u201cClosing Someone Else\u2019s Blinds\u201d as she \u201cdoes not want to lose you\u2026but we\u2019re all out of time\u201d, and \u201cit is killing me to be your back-up plan.\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s Good for You\u201d gets thing rocking again as she identifies \u201cI\u2019m a tornado, boy, and I just can\u2019t help but destroy everything in my path.\u201d You don\u2019t know what\u2019s good for you, but I know it\u2019s not me\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cJuxtaposition\u201d is a smooth reggae with guest Scott Graves on trombone and she notes \u201cYou\u2019re so mixed up, can\u2019t keep your stories straight.\u201d \u201cOld Flame\u201d continues with a quiet, jazz feel with Steve Roehm adding marimba and again \u201cI just feel the pain whenever I see you.\u201d She continues with a flamenco feel with \u201cAin\u2019t Got Time to Cry\u201d and \u201cI ain\u2019t gonna let you lie to me one more time\u201d. Paul Odegaard accents the song with his trumpet.<\/p>\n A slide guitar opening drives the blues number \u201cForsaken\u201d as she cries to the heavens \u201cEverybody left me here on my knees\u201d. \u201cHe has taken the soul from me\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cMiss Evangeline\u201d jumps into the country with Chris Silver on mandolin. \u201cYou made a promise, now you\u2019re gonna keep it. You\u2019ll break her heart, but mine was first in line. My daddy\u2019s shotgun ain\u2019t real patient.\u201d She slows things down again with the keyboard led \u201cGoing Under\u201d as Joyann sings that she has \u201cNothing left but sleep, nothing left to keep\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cStay Home Mama\u201d has a New Orleans feel as she gets up at 6:00 AM as \u201cMama needs a little time to herself, before having to give to everyone else\u201d. This is a fun song about the travails of a woman having to stay home with her kids who \u201ccannot even go to the bathroom by yourself\u201d. Scott kicks in on trombone again as she clearly delivers the blues of a woman who has no time for herself. The song ends with the son proclaiming, \u201cI pooped\u201d. She ends on a positive note celebrating Wisconsin on \u201cSconnie Girl\u201d, as she states \u201cI was raised to speak my mind. Work real hard, and still be real kind. Ain\u2019t nothing better than a Wisconsin girl\u201d.<\/p>\n Joyann delivers clear and powerful vocals on every song, sometimes bringing to mind the vocals of Ann Wilson from Heart, particularly on the harder rocking songs. As recited above, many of the songs are dealing with a failed relationship. As such they could be considered as something of a downer, but somehow Joyann\u2019s power leads you in the belief that she is conquering that loss and ready to move on. And the lyrics are certainly written in an intriguing and sometimes fun way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Joyann Parker grew up in Mellen, Wisconsin. She taught herself to play the guitar and started studying classical piano at age four. She earned a degree in instrumental education from the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse. She then moved to Minneapolis where she briefly taught music in elementary schools. After another stint as a stay-at-home mom, she…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5203,"template":"","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/doublebates.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/recordings\/5202"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/doublebates.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/recordings"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/doublebates.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/recordings"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doublebates.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/doublebates.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}