Joy Clevenger & Michael Warner are “GreatStreet”. Joy handles vocals & lyrics with a most obvious input of A Mother’s Song & Wife’s Lament. Michael Warner is in charge of melodies, guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and background vocals.
“Life and faith are the core of this duo's music, influencing the inspired lyrics, earthy vocals, and natural instrumentation."
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Joy Clevenger (Stone) of GreatStreet back in high school. When I first heard she had an album coming out, I immediately thought back to the days of being chauffeured to Cross Country meets via school bus and a young Joy singing ‘The River’(Garth Brooks not Bruce Springsteen). I knew the new album was a Christian album, but I knew the album had to be worth a listen with her voice, so I compromised and bought it for my mom.
As, I started writing my blog, I was listening to music more purposefuly. Listening for meaning, listening for specific instruments; listening and wondering what was the muse, the distraction, and the reaction. I knew I already loved Joy’s voice, but I always had great hesitation purposefully listening to Christian music. I had never come across a voice that could get me past the lyrics. I had decided if I was ever going to give a fair chance to a Christian album, now would be the chance. Plus it would be an excellent time to catch up with an old friend.
When we knew each other back in high school, you were singing in some form. It’s been a long time between your junior year of high school & now. What have you been doing in between, as far as performance? Joy Clevenger of GreatStreet: I took about ten or twelve years away from music after high school. Life just didn’t seem to have the space, until my heart told me I needed to make the space. We had just moved to Louisville and I auditioned for my church’s worship band and was accepted. This is where I met Mike and we struck up a friendship through our love of all things Celtic and lyrical.
As far as writing? I went to school to write. I have a degree in English and taught school for bit until I started a family. I didn’t think of myself as a songwriter until Mike literally forced me to part with a piece I was working on. But from that came our first song. We’ve been a writing team ever since, with my lyrics and his melodies mostly.
As far as everything else? I’m not sure there is an “etc.” With family life, work life, and now music life, there isn’t much room for anything else. Creating has been so satisfying, though, that I haven’t been looking for anything else to fill the spaces.
When did you start writing? Literally when Mike brought my crinkled paper back as a completed work, I started writing almost daily at that point. I have notebooks and bankers boxes full of ideas and lyrics waiting to be used. There’s just not enough time in the day to spend on working through it all.
Also, as long as I’ve known you, you’ve been religious/Christian. Does this influence your singing/writing style because that is simply the way you live your life or because that’s the genre you chose to be part of?
I started out, just putting the album on. I wasn’t really actively listening to it, but just had it on while I was working near my car. After listening of the album, I realized a great bonus. Beyond the obvious draw of Joy’s great voice, the music itself is charming, charismatic, and full of life. I was coming back to listen to the album again and again for the melodies as well. As Michael says “I have melodies running through my head all the time, so fortunately I can pull those out sometimes;” his ability to grab a melody or rhythm from his head full of them to fit a song is uncanny. He picks great blue-grass rhythms, Celtic melodies, and puts it all together for a seamless album
On 11-24-10, the eponymous debut of GreatStreet was made. The album is produced by Nick Joyce, lead vocals and Guitar "for Our Heart's Hero. How did you & Michael come to connect with Nick Joyce? GreatStreet had been a combo since August 2008 but through a serendipitous route, "Nick was at an intimate performance and was blown away by a Jeremy Camp cover we performed. He approached us afterward about recording an album, and the rest is history.
So, when listening to the GreatStreet album, I can’t help but think of a certain soft singing beautiful voiced artist, Alison Krauss circa 1995’s ‘When you Say Nothing At All’. Oddly, I had thought that before I knew of your affinity for Union Station. Nick Joyce is actually great friends with "Ronnie." (Ron Block of Union Station] Mike and I have been covering his music for a while, but when Nick told us they knew each other I fell out of my chair. But that's how we got Ron to review our album in the first place. It was a real honor to have him listen and praise our work.
Tell me about Ron Block, J.J. Heller, Cara Dillon, Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek, and Dougie Maclean. Why are they influences? We love their song writing and musicianship. Amazing and mind blowing! So many influences, these musicians can’t be nailed down to one particular genre because they go where the music takes them. This is what we want to do and be about. We are constantly working to hone and sharpen our skills to become better at this, for lack of a better word, craft. These are the musicians we look to for inspiration and guidance
The best part is Allison Krauss’ voice is that after years of records, it is still soft and she remains very successful. Do people try to get you louder? Well, playing nursing homes has us cranking up the mix a bit, but on the whole we find people don’t want to be yelled at when they come to hear us play. We keep the mix crisp and clear, and we get a lot of feedback about lyrics at the end of a set, more so than our musicianship. We want our audience to understand the lyrics, get lost in the music, and connect with something--God, themselves, whatever--and you miss the chance to create that kind of environment if the mix is too loud and in your face.
Much of the album is split with being religious themed or not. Lots of it like the above songs, just intertwines a personal view that just happens to be of a Christian lifestyle. Even heathens like myself, understand people have different external influences on their lives. It’s only natural that those views come out within their art.
‘Good Day’ is a great example. If you simply replaced “lord” in the chorus with some oohs or ahhs, there would be no reference at all to God or religion., and it would be the same song composition wise and in religious emphasis. ‘A Mother’s Song' is rather self explanatory. ‘Til We Laugh’ is also pretty innocuous as well a beautiful well written song, but no pushier than a Jesus Fish on the back of a car. The theme is there, but just in the background.
On the other hand ‘Your Hand’ is beautifully sung, and a great composition with violin, acoustic drumming, etc; but clearly religious overtones. Likewise ‘God Said’(FREE DOWNLOAD), title and all is clearly about God’s involvement in everything beautiful. Truthfully, regardless about what the song is saying, the vocal & mandolin combo is fantastic. When the drums kick in and raise the tempo just try not to bob your head or tap along. The lyrics are well done as well. Even the most staunch agnostic has some sense of an omnipotent force involved in nature. ‘Thank You God’, my personal favorite, is specifically thanking God for all the conveniences, and even annoyances in our day. Religious or not, most folk could use a more humble attitude being thankful for what they have, good or bad.
‘Thank You God’ via SoundCloud.com by GreatStreet
Thank You God by GreatStreet
In your song, ‘Someone’ the lyrics read “...you delay your coming for the sake of someone”
can you explain that to me? I miss the reference entirely. This is one of our less introspective songs. This line is a reference to the notion that God will return to Earth and gather the righteous to Him on an unknown day in the future. So we are (Mike and I, anyway) of the mind that since the sun is up again, and that day doesn’t seem to be today, that He has delayed His return so that another soul will return to Him. That probably made it as clear as mud, right? :o) That does... I miss most religious references that lots of other folks do get. Lots of adults that don’t consider themselves religious, at least grew up in a religious household. I never had any Sunday school etc. I’ve really been to church less than 50 times in my life with 25 of those being weddings.
The GreatStreet story seems to be the tale of two bands. First is the humble duo working to bring joy to folks who need it most. Most live performances have been the usual wedding/funeral gigs, but we play regularly at an assisted living community here in Louisville as well as at several nursing homes in the area. We are putting together the program for a live show that will showcase the album’s music and plan on taking it to churches within about a 200 mile radius or so. Most recently, though, we played for a lady named Marie. Just a few simple hymns, but we were asked to play for her because she would be dying sometime that day. We thought, "Sure! This is what we do!" But when we were in her room, playing and singing for her, the enormity of it all shook us both pretty hard. Pretty humbling knowing the next voice she heard singing was going to blow mine away, and the music she heard playing would be indescribable. Being a part of that transition for her was quite an experience, a lot tougher than we thought. That is an incredible view, very humbling.
The album features Hanna Warner (Mike’s oldest daughter) and Jeremy Toler the drummer for Our Heart’s Hero brought in for the making of the album. When you play an event (outside of the old folks home), are you a duo, or do you expand? We have just recently taken on another musician to handle the larger gigs. Anything over about 75 people or so calls for a fuller, more interesting sound. This way we can get closer to that album sound and keep the audience's ear interested and engaged.
The other side of GreatStreet is the digital and electronic face, one that looks to be on a grander scale. There is a modern website with all the lyrics available, ‘God Said’ ready to download, ‘Thank You God’ on SoundCloud.com, airplay pending on Pandora, and a worldwide approach. Copies of the album have been sent as far as Australia. So far we’ve sent to Orange, North Perth, and Brisbane. But we've also had requests from Ireland, France, the UK, and here in the USA.
Any word on actual radio play? It’s playing pretty steady on Jango internet radio, but no word yet from DCE about specific international airplay. We’ll hear from her next week to get more info on how many stations, where, and the response. As it is we have had about 25 stations worldwide request our CD (we assume they are playing the single) and hundreds of website hits downloading the song (assuming for airplay). UPDATE our publicist just got back to us that our first release, God Said, is being played on 158 stations internationally. And the album just got picked up by Pandora radio. We are really excited. Not sure what any of that translates to yet, but we're still excited.
Do you watch sales, page views or Facebook likes etc?
What’s the coolest trend you’ve noticed so far?
What did you do to celebrate its “release”?
The GreatStreet album is available via iTunes and greatstreetmusic.com. At worst, go to their site and listen to the album!
Enjoy!
“Life and faith are the core of this duo's music, influencing the inspired lyrics, earthy vocals, and natural instrumentation."
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Joy Clevenger (Stone) of GreatStreet back in high school. When I first heard she had an album coming out, I immediately thought back to the days of being chauffeured to Cross Country meets via school bus and a young Joy singing ‘The River’(Garth Brooks not Bruce Springsteen). I knew the new album was a Christian album, but I knew the album had to be worth a listen with her voice, so I compromised and bought it for my mom.
As, I started writing my blog, I was listening to music more purposefuly. Listening for meaning, listening for specific instruments; listening and wondering what was the muse, the distraction, and the reaction. I knew I already loved Joy’s voice, but I always had great hesitation purposefully listening to Christian music. I had never come across a voice that could get me past the lyrics. I had decided if I was ever going to give a fair chance to a Christian album, now would be the chance. Plus it would be an excellent time to catch up with an old friend.
When we knew each other back in high school, you were singing in some form. It’s been a long time between your junior year of high school & now. What have you been doing in between, as far as performance? Joy Clevenger of GreatStreet: I took about ten or twelve years away from music after high school. Life just didn’t seem to have the space, until my heart told me I needed to make the space. We had just moved to Louisville and I auditioned for my church’s worship band and was accepted. This is where I met Mike and we struck up a friendship through our love of all things Celtic and lyrical.
As far as writing? I went to school to write. I have a degree in English and taught school for bit until I started a family. I didn’t think of myself as a songwriter until Mike literally forced me to part with a piece I was working on. But from that came our first song. We’ve been a writing team ever since, with my lyrics and his melodies mostly.
As far as everything else? I’m not sure there is an “etc.” With family life, work life, and now music life, there isn’t much room for anything else. Creating has been so satisfying, though, that I haven’t been looking for anything else to fill the spaces.
When did you start writing? Literally when Mike brought my crinkled paper back as a completed work, I started writing almost daily at that point. I have notebooks and bankers boxes full of ideas and lyrics waiting to be used. There’s just not enough time in the day to spend on working through it all.
Also, as long as I’ve known you, you’ve been religious/Christian. Does this influence your singing/writing style because that is simply the way you live your life or because that’s the genre you chose to be part of?
Not everything we write is overtly “Christian,” but I find that what we write nearly always goes back to those roots because that is the path we’ve both chosen. We live with a hope, and we live guided by something greater than ourselves. So writing comes easily when we focus on that part of ourselves, and even though we probably aren’t going to be churning out any top 40 hits, we play music about a life that most everybody is going through--love, loss, joy, grief, hope, disillusionment, on and on. The greatest compliments we receive are not about the singing or our musical abilities, but about how the lyrics have touched someone.
I started out, just putting the album on. I wasn’t really actively listening to it, but just had it on while I was working near my car. After listening of the album, I realized a great bonus. Beyond the obvious draw of Joy’s great voice, the music itself is charming, charismatic, and full of life. I was coming back to listen to the album again and again for the melodies as well. As Michael says “I have melodies running through my head all the time, so fortunately I can pull those out sometimes;” his ability to grab a melody or rhythm from his head full of them to fit a song is uncanny. He picks great blue-grass rhythms, Celtic melodies, and puts it all together for a seamless album
On 11-24-10, the eponymous debut of GreatStreet was made. The album is produced by Nick Joyce, lead vocals and Guitar "for Our Heart's Hero. How did you & Michael come to connect with Nick Joyce? GreatStreet had been a combo since August 2008 but through a serendipitous route, "Nick was at an intimate performance and was blown away by a Jeremy Camp cover we performed. He approached us afterward about recording an album, and the rest is history.
So, when listening to the GreatStreet album, I can’t help but think of a certain soft singing beautiful voiced artist, Alison Krauss circa 1995’s ‘When you Say Nothing At All’. Oddly, I had thought that before I knew of your affinity for Union Station. Nick Joyce is actually great friends with "Ronnie." (Ron Block of Union Station] Mike and I have been covering his music for a while, but when Nick told us they knew each other I fell out of my chair. But that's how we got Ron to review our album in the first place. It was a real honor to have him listen and praise our work.
Tell me about Ron Block, J.J. Heller, Cara Dillon, Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek, and Dougie Maclean. Why are they influences? We love their song writing and musicianship. Amazing and mind blowing! So many influences, these musicians can’t be nailed down to one particular genre because they go where the music takes them. This is what we want to do and be about. We are constantly working to hone and sharpen our skills to become better at this, for lack of a better word, craft. These are the musicians we look to for inspiration and guidance
The best part is Allison Krauss’ voice is that after years of records, it is still soft and she remains very successful. Do people try to get you louder? Well, playing nursing homes has us cranking up the mix a bit, but on the whole we find people don’t want to be yelled at when they come to hear us play. We keep the mix crisp and clear, and we get a lot of feedback about lyrics at the end of a set, more so than our musicianship. We want our audience to understand the lyrics, get lost in the music, and connect with something--God, themselves, whatever--and you miss the chance to create that kind of environment if the mix is too loud and in your face.
Much of the album is split with being religious themed or not. Lots of it like the above songs, just intertwines a personal view that just happens to be of a Christian lifestyle. Even heathens like myself, understand people have different external influences on their lives. It’s only natural that those views come out within their art.
‘Good Day’ is a great example. If you simply replaced “lord” in the chorus with some oohs or ahhs, there would be no reference at all to God or religion., and it would be the same song composition wise and in religious emphasis. ‘A Mother’s Song' is rather self explanatory. ‘Til We Laugh’ is also pretty innocuous as well a beautiful well written song, but no pushier than a Jesus Fish on the back of a car. The theme is there, but just in the background.
On the other hand ‘Your Hand’ is beautifully sung, and a great composition with violin, acoustic drumming, etc; but clearly religious overtones. Likewise ‘God Said’(FREE DOWNLOAD), title and all is clearly about God’s involvement in everything beautiful. Truthfully, regardless about what the song is saying, the vocal & mandolin combo is fantastic. When the drums kick in and raise the tempo just try not to bob your head or tap along. The lyrics are well done as well. Even the most staunch agnostic has some sense of an omnipotent force involved in nature. ‘Thank You God’, my personal favorite, is specifically thanking God for all the conveniences, and even annoyances in our day. Religious or not, most folk could use a more humble attitude being thankful for what they have, good or bad.
‘Thank You God’ via SoundCloud.com by GreatStreet
Thank You God by GreatStreet
In your song, ‘Someone’ the lyrics read “...you delay your coming for the sake of someone”
can you explain that to me? I miss the reference entirely. This is one of our less introspective songs. This line is a reference to the notion that God will return to Earth and gather the righteous to Him on an unknown day in the future. So we are (Mike and I, anyway) of the mind that since the sun is up again, and that day doesn’t seem to be today, that He has delayed His return so that another soul will return to Him. That probably made it as clear as mud, right? :o) That does... I miss most religious references that lots of other folks do get. Lots of adults that don’t consider themselves religious, at least grew up in a religious household. I never had any Sunday school etc. I’ve really been to church less than 50 times in my life with 25 of those being weddings.
The GreatStreet story seems to be the tale of two bands. First is the humble duo working to bring joy to folks who need it most. Most live performances have been the usual wedding/funeral gigs, but we play regularly at an assisted living community here in Louisville as well as at several nursing homes in the area. We are putting together the program for a live show that will showcase the album’s music and plan on taking it to churches within about a 200 mile radius or so. Most recently, though, we played for a lady named Marie. Just a few simple hymns, but we were asked to play for her because she would be dying sometime that day. We thought, "Sure! This is what we do!" But when we were in her room, playing and singing for her, the enormity of it all shook us both pretty hard. Pretty humbling knowing the next voice she heard singing was going to blow mine away, and the music she heard playing would be indescribable. Being a part of that transition for her was quite an experience, a lot tougher than we thought. That is an incredible view, very humbling.
The album features Hanna Warner (Mike’s oldest daughter) and Jeremy Toler the drummer for Our Heart’s Hero brought in for the making of the album. When you play an event (outside of the old folks home), are you a duo, or do you expand? We have just recently taken on another musician to handle the larger gigs. Anything over about 75 people or so calls for a fuller, more interesting sound. This way we can get closer to that album sound and keep the audience's ear interested and engaged.
The other side of GreatStreet is the digital and electronic face, one that looks to be on a grander scale. There is a modern website with all the lyrics available, ‘God Said’ ready to download, ‘Thank You God’ on SoundCloud.com, airplay pending on Pandora, and a worldwide approach. Copies of the album have been sent as far as Australia. So far we’ve sent to Orange, North Perth, and Brisbane. But we've also had requests from Ireland, France, the UK, and here in the USA.
Any word on actual radio play? It’s playing pretty steady on Jango internet radio, but no word yet from DCE about specific international airplay. We’ll hear from her next week to get more info on how many stations, where, and the response. As it is we have had about 25 stations worldwide request our CD (we assume they are playing the single) and hundreds of website hits downloading the song (assuming for airplay). UPDATE our publicist just got back to us that our first release, God Said, is being played on 158 stations internationally. And the album just got picked up by Pandora radio. We are really excited. Not sure what any of that translates to yet, but we're still excited.
Do you watch sales, page views or Facebook likes etc?
We do watch sales and listening trends because there is a tendency for us to be too close to the music--what we like isn’t always preferred by our listeners and it’s sometimes the song we’ve ignored that is getting the most hits.
What’s the coolest trend you’ve noticed so far?
The most surprising trend we’ve seen so far has been the overwhelmingly positive response from our male listeners to “A Mother’s Song.” High number of plays and downloads, and also lots of tears live. Very surprising.
What did you do to celebrate its “release”?
We threw a release party the first week of December with Nick Joyce Emceeing and joining us on stage. We invited friends, family, and supporters--about 150 or so people--and gave a mini concert for them to introduce them to the album. We sold 100 CDs that night! We were amazed at the outpouring of encouragement and support.
The GreatStreet album is available via iTunes and greatstreetmusic.com. At worst, go to their site and listen to the album!
Enjoy!
Top 5 religious songs-where's You light up my Life? Does the Ventures' Christmas album count as religious?
ReplyDeleteDon't forget "God's Gonna Cut you down" by the late great Johnny Cash.
ReplyDeleteHow about "Spirit in the Sky" by the incomparable and most unlikely Christian Norman Greenbaum.
ReplyDeleteMr. Mcgurk, please check out the Reverend Charlie Jackson's "God's got it". This record will convert you. You will find yourself wanting to go to his church, dance with snakes and drink their venom.
ReplyDeleteThat was an interesting interview. Thanks for sharing it as text by the way. Sometimes I come across good interviews that are only available as audio and while that's good, it helps to have two options for enjoying what the songwriter has to say.
ReplyDelete