Joy and the Boy is the pairing of Joy Dragland and Leo Sidran, two of Madison's busier musical citizens. Dragland supplies Joy's vocals, as well as acting as lead singer of Smokin' with Superman. Sidran is a jazz club regular, performing frequently with a few groups about town. He has also made two solo records and written songs for the likes of Steve Miller.
On their debut pairing for the new record Paradise, they combine their talents to produce a candy-sweet pop record. It's catchy, light pop music with a clear connection to jazz.?? On some tracks, Sidran's arrangements give you the feeling that you just might be floating, and they complement Dragland's delicate vocals beautifully.?? On tracks such as \Tiptoe"" and ""Waiting,"" her voice captures the essence of passion or longing with a bittersweet delivery that elevates the songs to a higher plane.??They also know how to pick up the pace, and do so on tracks like the single ""Love's Mystery."" A cover version of Marvin Gaye's ""Let's Get It On"" also lets them play with their funkier sides. The Daily Cardinal had the chance to sit down with Sidran, and here is what he had to say:
So the two of you are called Joy and the Boy.??Do you feel like a cheap sex object being referred to as merely ""The Boy?""
Well, I would like to feel like a sex object. No, but seriously, it came down to we wanted to show that it was two people, and Joy and the Boy has a nice ring to it.
What made you decide to collaborate?
We were kind of jamming in my apartment one night and I told her that I thought we could do a great project together.?? And so I wrote her a song, we recorded it, and things just started rolling.
Did you feel any pressure to shape your music a certain way when recording?
We recorded in a home studio, in an attic, just when we had time, so there was very little pressure.??And we started recording it as just a small-form record.??By small form I mean guitar, a voice and maybe some adornments.?? We weren't thinking big. But then we ended up doing a lot of computer-based recording, and I think that really modified the sound.
What should be expected of your live performances?
This music is really fresh for us to play live, because we haven't really taken it out in front of an audience, so we're just going to have fun with it. Actually, Luther's [Blues] is one of the only Madison venues we have lined up at the moment, because we're booked in Europe starting in May.
Is Europe a big area for you?
Absolutely.??Our version of ""Let's Get It On"" is Top 40 radio in Spain right now, which is very exciting. And we're actually invited to play on a national German kids show in May.??They're going to have us on to lip sync ""Get It On"" with the kids.
""Let's Get It On?""
I'm pretty sure they don't quite get the translation. (laughs)
I've heard the term ""cosmic"" mentioned about your music.??What exactly does ""cosmic"" mean?
Joy once referred to our music as Cosmic Pop, and I really like the sound of that.??We didn't have any idea of what Cosmic Pop was when we first started, but when the record was finished, we knew what Cosmic Pop was'it was this record.
