Joy Dragland, Louka Patenaude, Elena Ross, Jason Kutz, Paul Hastil & John Christensen

media release: Joy Dragland, vocals Louka Patenude, guitar/vocals Elena Ross, vocals/percussion Jason Kutz, piano Paul Hastil, piano John Christensen, bass

Joy Dragland https://www.joydragland.com/ is a singer songwriter living in Norway via Brooklyn. Raised in the snowy midwest, Joy began writing songs at an early age to entertain her siblings on the way home from church. The artist she idolised most as a child was Dolly Parton, as Parton exhibited both musicality & glamour. She started performing in small coffee shops in Wisconsin, until she met co-conspirator Leo Sidran with whom she formed pop duo Joy & the Boy. Together they wrote and recorded three studio albums & toured globally, charting in the top 40 in Spain with their cover of Marvin Gaye´s "Let's Get it On". As a solo artist, she has written, recorded and produced a full length album, an ep and various single releases. She is a guest artist on over 20 albums, including providing vocals on Escort´s critically acclaimed club hit "Cocaine Blues".

Louka Patenaude https://loukasound.com/ a veteran of the Madison music scene, is a performing guitarist, teacher, recording studio artist, songwriter and composer. As a professional teacher, his career goes back almost 20 years. He has appeared on many recordings and has toured throughout the Midwest, Europe and Pacific Asia. Since 2002, he has performed on guitar with jazz artist and historian Ben Sidran and his group, including four residencies at the Cafe Central in Madrid, the Montreal Jazz Fest in 2010 and an annual summer-long performance in Madison.  He also appears on the CD releases, Nick’s Bump (2004) and Cien Noches (2008), which featured Patenaude’s composition, “A Room in the Desert.” He has performed on stage with many notable jazz artists including Tony Monaco, Richard Davis, Bob Rockwell, Billy Peterson, Richie Cole, Gege Telesforo, Bob Malach, Manty Ellis, as well as many Madison and Milwaukee jazz musicians, including Paul Hastil, Leo Sidran, Amelia Royko, Dane Richeson, Rodrigo Villanueva, Nick Moran, Michael Brenneis, Dave Stoler, Devin Drobka, John Christensen, Dave Bayles, Jeff Hamann, Tony Barba, and many others.