Joanna Barbera

She sings about her experience, but her creativity makes it so you can’t know for certain. Joanna Barbera’s ethereal lyrics, reminiscent of the songwriting styles of Tori Amos and Cat Power, work like an Impressionist painting – depicting nothing in its exact form yet inducing overwhelming feeling in the listener. Live performances spur audience members to describe Joanna’s style as nothing less than “pure.” Meaning – what they hear sounds as if it’s coming straight from the inside, no filter, no polish needed. “The songs capture emotions of an experience,” Barbera says of her music, “Music makes me feel life and energy on a deeper level. I suppose I would love to do the same for my listeners, but I have little control over how others perceive my music.” Raised in New York, Joanna began playing music at a young age, saddled beside her grandmother on the piano bench while she reeled out old standards. Over the years, she took up the guitar as her voice grew into a tender flame, lit bright and warm, but always heaving within it – the possibility of something dangerous as a burn; a dark sultriness. Whatever she is playing, Joanna always plays it in her distinct sound. For proof of that, check out her take on Springsteen’s “Thunder Road,” which she transforms into something wholly original. Sparse, affecting, lingering, Barbera’s music resonates like wind chimes on a Midwestern prairie. She writes to get closer to the mysterious contents of her being, her guts – and yours. And what she finds there, she will sing out to you with an intimacy that is as close as breath on your face.