UCN Interview at CRS 2013 – Joanna Mosca: “I hope my songs bring some sunshine to somebody’s life.”

11 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on UCN Interview at CRS 2013 – Joanna Mosca: “I hope my songs bring some sunshine to somebody’s life.”

CRS 2013 is the perfect time to catch up with artists and chat about their new projects. Joanna Mosca is not your ordinary country singer. Following a rewarding career in the health care industry, she decided to fulfill her dream and started pursuing a career in music. With that background, Mosca is very grounded and also truly grateful for all the good things that have come her way in the last few years. The messages on her new EP, Let it all Begin, match her own positive outlook on life. The new project, and in particular two special songs contained on it, were the topic of discussion.

UCN: It’s been a little over a year since we last talked, and since then you have released the new EP. I really like the title, ‘Let it all Begin,’ it’s so positive. Was that the idea with this title?
Joanna Mosca: It really was, and it’s obviously one of the songs. And the song kind of has a cool message of ‘go out there and try something new, don’t be afraid, push your limits.’ That’s the let it all begin, it’s not too late to make a change type of thing. But we have released ‘Dream on Savannah’ as the single.

UCN: The title sort of holds the central message of the whole record, because really, ‘Dream on Savannah’ has kind of the same message of not giving up.
JM: Exactly, and I wanted to highlight that song because, as you say, it has the message for the whole record.

UCN: Yes, it’s the heart of the record in a sense. Dream on was written by three people I think are fabulous: Troy Verges, Hillary Lindsey, and Marv Green.
JM: Yes I always get attracted to their stuff.

UCN: How did you find the song? Is it because their names are on it? Like send me some more Troy Verges songs, please.
JM: [laughs] No, what happened is that we know people over at Universal and they send us their artists’ music, the songwriters that they work with. And that writing team pops up a lot. Then I hone in on what song I can connect with, and those lyrics just got me, so that was it. I don’t know, I tend to go for… – I don’t want to say inspirational songs because I’m not a Christian singer or anything like that, but songs with a message.

UCN: Yes, and they are still inspirational, they are inspiring.
JM: Exactly, inspiring. I tend to go for those and I tend to write those kinds of songs, like ‘Keep on Going.’ I am always drawn to things like that. Not to say I won’t do a drinking song someday… [smiles]

UCN: Or a truck song? [smiles] JM: Yes, I was just going to say that. [laughs] I don’t know if I’ll ever do a truck song though.

UCN: Oh, you got a have a truck song these days. [smiles] JM: It does seem to be very much in vogue right now, truck songs. But I’m going to stick to what I’m doing. You can’t do what’s in vogue, you have to do what you want.

UCN: Maybe you can do an anti-truck song. A truck song that’s not really about a truck
JM: Yeah, like some sort of double entendre! [laugh]

UCN: Getting back to the single, what I thought was interesting about the message is that while there is bullying, the kid is kind of like ‘Hell yeah, I don’t care, I’m still just doing my thing.’
JM: Yes, it is a dual message and it’s anti-bullying. I mean, the girl is crying and it can be horrible when taken too far. But the other half of the message is to follow your dreams and don’t be sidetracked by the people that don’t believe in you. It kind of carries both themes, which I like. And then the message became visual with the video.

UCN: Yeah, the video’s really great.
JM: I worked with Steve Weaver, he’s done beautiful videos for Craig Morgan and Montgomery Gentry. Really cool videos. He’s a gem! He’s a wonderful person to work with, the whole team was. The song really came to life. And how about the acting of those kids?

UCN: Yes, they did a really great job! How involved were they? Did they hear the song?
JM: Yes, they got the kids from the acting pool obviously, but then really involved them. I wasn’t there unfortunately; they shot my part at the theater. In my part I’m kind of the narrator. We filmed it at the beautiful theater in Franklin. Oh my God, it’s pretty, refurbished like that.

UCN: Yes, it’s gorgeous.
JM: You’ve been there?

UCN: Yes, I’ve seen a few shows there. And it sounds great.
JM: Yes, it does. We filmed in the middle of the night. To get the lighting just right, it took hours! He wanted to get the whole stage behind me with the lights, so it was a complicated task. But it was Steve’s vision.

UCN: And speaking of great team members, you worked with Bryan White again.
JM: Yes, oh gosh! Bryan did the whole thing, the whole EP. He was going to do the duet with me too, I don’t know if I told you.

UCN: Oh yes, I remember that.
JM: But then Richie [McDonald] stepped in.

UCN: Oh yeah, you wouldn’t say no to that. [Smiles] JM: No! [laughs] So I got both of them, fortuitously I got both of them. And we’re going to re-release that song now.

UCN: Oh really?
JM: Yes, we’re thinking about it. We didn’t get it out to as many people as we wanted. It was just timing. But people really loved it and it’s a fun song. It’s not a heavy-duty thing, kind of tongue-in-cheek. Where does good love go, you know, is it riding a train? [smiles] It’s just a fun kind of thing, and we’ll probably re-release it.

UCN: With Richie back with Lonestar now and them doing new stuff, and his name is out there again too.
JM: Yes, the timing is good now.

UCN: And so much of radio is timing.
JM: Yes, we see a lot of the radio people here now, and they’re all saying ‘Can you release that?’ And the reviewers were saying things like ‘we love the whole EP but that’s my favorite song. Are you going to re-release it as a single?’ So we have to re-release it and get it out there. I’m with a new team now, and as you said, timing is everything.

UCN: One thing I really like about you is that you had your career, a “real job”, and then still chased your dream. What qualities from your previous career do you still take with you, what do you still drawn on?
JM: That’s a really good question. I was telling somebody the other day, you use something from every facet or period of your life, whether it’s a bad experience or a good one. Certainly from my nursing days I’ve always had that instinct to help people, and I think that’s why I love performing live. I love connecting with people. I love to sing things that make them feel something. It’s all kind of connected in that sense, working in the health industry and being a singer. Obviously you do it in a different way, but you’re out there hopefully bringing some sunshine to somebody’s life. That’s kind of my thing.

UCN: That’s great. Thank you, it’s great to catch up with you!
JM: Yes, it was good to see you too!

 

To find out more about Joanna Mosca, please visit www.joannamosca.com.

 

Liv Carter

Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
Liv Carter

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