Northern Wisconsin is a place of incredible beauty, and contains one of the biggest areas of agricultural land and untamed forest east of the Mississippi River. Locals, “Sconnies”, are fiercely protective of it, for good reason.
Joyann Parker is a singer-songwriter who is mostly associated with the Minneapolis music scene where she made her name, but her sound and her outlook on life were formed on her upbringing in her home state of Wisconsin. In her latest single, ‘Sconnie Girl’, Joyann lets the world know about it, in no uncertain terms.
Joyann’s heart might belong in Wisconsin, but her music is much wider than that. She’s shown throughout her career that she’s not only able to sing and write in traditional American styles, but she can put them together in unexpected ways. ‘Sconnie Girl’ on the one hand sounds like a backwoods celebration, quite at home on a Nashville playlist, with its themes of small-town pride, community, and resilience. On the other hand, Joyann’s swaggering delivery is as much in debt to the blues, and the band owes its swing sound to jazz. Additionally, there’s rock and roll vibes, when they plug in their six-strings.
Joyann is joined on this track by fellow Sconnie, Chris Kroeze, who hails from tiny Barron, a lumberjack town in Northern Wisconsin. You might know him as the runner-up on the fifteenth season of “The Voice,” with his passionate renditions of country-rock standards. Chris’s gruff baritone fits naturally with Joyann Parker’s sound, and when they sing together, it’s a glorious harmony.
In the music video for ‘Sconnie Girl’, Parker and Kroeze are joined by another from, their state, comedian Mary Mack, who has made her North Country upbringing the subject of her spoken-word albums and her performances on late-night talk shows. In the clip we see her as the dedicated fan who calls for the song at a Joyann Parker show at an outdoor get-together. It’s a glorious celebration of a beautiful state.
Watch the music video for ‘Sconnie Girl’ below, and check out Joyann Parker and her music online on her official website, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
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