From sensitive to soaring, JoAnne Redding’s vocals shine like a multi-faceted gem. Her songs are a soulful mix of self-penned roots music—blues, country, and rock n’ soul—that resonate from her own life experiences. Redding’s current CD, How It Is, spent three months in the Top Ten of Roots Music Report’s Blues Chart, and one of her tunes, “I’ve Earned the Right (to Sing the Blues),” was featured on a compilation CD distributed by the national magazine Blues Revue. Redding was honored to be invited to perform another cut from that album, her poignant song about older child adoption, “A Family to Love,” at the Rhode Island State House on National Adoption Day.
A former Americana radio program director and morning show host, Redding has been an invited guest speaker for the Connecticut Songwriters Association, and a guest on radio and television throughout the United States. Her first CD, Run With It, recorded in Nashville gained her international airplay and distribution. Her follow-up 2000 album, The Running Kind, was played on more than 250 radio stations worldwide. The title cut was featured on the daytime drama All My Children and her “Pink Slip Blues” aired on the syndicated personal finance show Sound Money. Redding's song, "Everything" from her The Running Kind CD can be heard in the new independent film Moving McAllister, starring Ben Gourley, Mila Kunis (That 70s Show), Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite), and Rutgar Hauer.
Redding has many sides. She has shared the bill with major country acts including Asleep at the Wheel, The Mavericks, Hank Williams Jr., and many others. She has sung with two of her Texas blues heros: Upon hearing her opening set for him, Lee Roy Parnell brought her on stage to sing his hits with him. He repeated that crowd-pleasing move in September 2006, when the two were appearing at the same New York State venue. Sharing a song on stage with Delbert McClinton was another thrill.
On the folk side, Redding performs regularly at The Guthrie Center—Arlo Guthrie’s venue from “Alice’s Restaurant” fame—and she has showcased at the heralded Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, selected from over 400 applicants. Redding’s spiritual vocals have helped her raise church rafters, singing solo a cappella and backed by full choirs and instrumentation.
Regardless of the genre, a gut-level honesty connects Redding with her audiences. “I sing what I feel, and I feel what I sing,” says Redding. “That’s what it’s all about. If I can make somebody feel something, unearth some true emotion, then I’m a happy woman.”
JoAnne Redding is a spirited performer who has appeared from New Orleans to New England.
Location: AMERICA NORTH: USA: Massachusetts (MA)
Sound Like: Blues