Last month, I had the fantastic opportunity to participate in record store day. I traveled across northern Utah, visiting several different independent record stores to support them and support my music addiction. My CD collection rejoiced at the newcomers, my turntable eagerly blessed my ears with unheard limited releases, my wallet screamed for me to stop, but my ears and my mind were happy creatures as the music flooded in. While I purchased a ton of vinyl and CDs, Record Store Day would not have been complete without live music. There were a few musicians in Salt Lake City, but nothing I was particularly interested in. It was in the evening that I went to the Graywhale record store in Ogden, Utah that I had the privilege of seeing the amazing Josaleigh Pollett.
A writer of heartwarming folk music, Josaleigh was born and raised in Ogden, just miles from Salt Lake City. She grew up in a musical family, picking up an instrument at a young age and quickly developing a desire to create her own intimate brand of folk. Comparable in sound to early Iron & Wine if he had a woman’s voice, Sharon Van Etten if given only an acoustic guitar, or Daughter at their most stripped down, her songs are personal, relaxing, and melancholy. Ironic, perhaps, that she never fails to smile after each song, no matter how blue the tune.
“I’m moving to have a new adventure! I’ve been in Utah my whole life, and I want to take my music somewhere where it has a better possibility of flourishing around more people.”
As a local musician, she faces the struggles of many rising musicians – persisting towards your dream even when the pay is low and the road is rough. In Ogden, Josaleigh says that being a musician can be a challenge, as “not many [people] consider it a profession…it’s hard to find people who are serious about it.” Although she loves Utah and is sad to be leaving her home, she now optimistically seeks the horizons of the west coast, in the great land of Seattle, where she hopes for a new adventure. After all, she’s lived in Utah throughout her entire life. Perhaps there, she hopes, her music will flourish and spread around more people. But with this new journey comes a great cost. Timed not by coincidence, Josaleigh released her most recent album, Strangers, digitally, on April 3, 2014, to help her prepare for the new life. Her new release means a lot to her, working as both a coping method and a way of expressing herself at such an exciting time in her life.
She has two albums, both of which, she explains, are strongly influenced by Jason Molina, whose “ability to tell a story is unmatched”, and Angel Olsen, who performed what Josaleigh believes to be one of the most mind-blowing concerts she has ever attended, and who “can command an entire room of noisy people with just her voice, and leave them crying on the floor by relating to her own experiences”.
!["[Writing music] is like creating my own coping methods and relaxation techniques. My newest record, Strangers, really means a lot to me. "](http://www.saltartists.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/309791_10150315722238676_768671267_n.jpg)
“[Writing music] is like creating my own coping methods and relaxation techniques. My newest record, Strangers, really means a lot to me. “
You can hear “Strangers” from her newest release, Strangers and “Danger & Blush” from her debut, Salt, below. Visit her bandcamp page here, where you can purchase both albums.
