Oh JoAnna James, Will You Marry Me?
November 1st, 2006
By Archived Story
With more talent in her little finger than most porn stars have in their entire phallus, the beautiful JoAnna James combines strong guitar skills with a voice that could make Donald Rumsfeld weep for forgiveness. The St. Paul native, blues/folk singer has been striking the heartstrings of audiences around the Twin Cities last month before leaving for a New York gig. But before fleeing Minnesota, The Wake had the utter joy of speaking with James for 10 minutes on an otherwise gloomy Monday night.
The Wake: OK, so I am going to say you get four musical influences. I don’t know why, but lets go with four.
JoAnna James: Four, huh… OK: Jeff Buckley, Patsy Cline, Mahalia Jackson and Lucinda Williams.
The Wake: Howlin’ Wolf or Elmore James?
JoAnna James: Elmore James
The Wake: R.L. Burnside acoustic or R.L. Burnside electric?
JoAnna James: Acoustic. (Answered in rapid fire.)
The Wake: Good answer. So how long have you been in music?
JoAnna James: Well I’ve been playing, I’ve been singing, for 11 years.
The Wake: Has it always been the kind of bluesy folksy stuff that you do now? Or were there other phases?
JoAnna James: It’s been mostly blues acoustic stuff, but I’ve definitely gone through phases. I went through the looping phase and stuff. Yeah I tried looping…
The Wake: Just didn’t like it?
JoAnna James: No, well… I would go and see someone like Andrew Bird play, and just master the looping.
The Wake: Yeah (dreamy sigh). So do you mostly just tour around the Twin Cities?
JoAnna James: No, I travel. I’ve been out on the road more than I’ve been at home this year. Spent most of the time out east, spent some time in the Midwest. Louisville, St Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburg…”
The Wake: As far as a backup band goes, how does that work?
JoAnna James: I do all the touring stuff solo. When I’m in town there is a cast of talented people that I can call and have sit in for certain gigs.
The Wake: Anything else you want to say? Aspirations?
JoAnna James: I guess the only thing I can think of to say is that we are really lucky to have a vibrant musical community, it’s really supportive with a lot of really talented people. It’s had a big impact on me as a person and a musician.
