Thursday Sessions with singer-songwriter, Josephine Johnson

Connect authentically to the artists by hearing them in our “speakeasy”-styled intimate listening room, the Roots, located underground beneath the Canopy social house. Hear the stories behind the songs as the artist(s) share their inspiration and even their heartaches. Doors open at 8:00pm; show starts at 8:30pm; balcony seating available for VIP add-on or members only. Locally-sourced craft beer and wine available for purchase. Masks are required for entry; touchless temperature screening upon ticket scan. Thank you for helping us help everyone enjoy a SAFE (and state-compliant)evening of live music. Tickets are $8 at the door; call the store for advance purchase.

Josephine Johnson is an artist unafraid to live out her dreams. Her brand of soulful, earthy, and transcendent folk feels tender, coming close-to-the-skin, while at the same time clearly dredged from the depths. Her voice is vulnerable yet powerful, reminiscent of the that all-in heart of Janis Joplin, but with a refinement that sets Johnson’s voice apart.  Johnson knows who she is. Her music presents herself and ideas with a calm strength – like someone who has spent long hours on the road alone, working problems and dreams into convictions. You can feel it in her voice.

Johnson was born in rural Greentown, Indiana and raised singing in church and school musicals. The first of her entire family to go to college, she attended Savannah College of Art and Design, then went on to earn a master’s degree in English on scholarship from Humboldt State University. Johnson learned to play ukulele and guitar while at SCAD, where she also began writing her own music. It wasn’t until after her masters and a career in teaching English that she returned to her true calling. “I realized I couldn’t do both – that there was no way to pursue music as a career while at the same time working on film production or teaching English. It became clear to me a bit later in life that I had to choose what I wanted.” Now fully in control of her own developing musical career, Johnson says she wouldn’t change it for the world – not her past education, nor her choices leading up to now, nor her present life as a singer-songwriter constantly on the road. “I’m single, I do this all by myself. I’m the booker, I’m the roadie, I’m the writer, I’m the singer… and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Johnson’s breakthrough album, The Spark (2018)—arranged by famed producer John Vanderslice and keys player Rob Shelton—features eight tracks that blend soul, country, and folk into a cohesive, earnest, and elaborately beautiful album.

Her latest EP Double High Five (2021) is a unique release in that it dips her folkie compositions in the otherworldly atmospherics of multi-instrumentalist Andrew Sovine (Ashley McBryde, Fox Brothers, Alice Wallace) who arranged, co-produced, and played electric guitar, omnichord, and slide guitar on the 6-song EP.

The Spark