To be honest and I always am, when I hear about or see a musical outfit comprised of siblings it sometimes disturbs me. It might be one too many bio pic about the ravages and pressures of being family entertainers or my propensity, in and of itself, to go to the dark side. Child actors, child singers, family singers, the Jacksons, The Osmonds etc. There is a creep factor for me but that's just me. That being said, the trio of amazingly talented singers-songwriters and sisters act Joseph, the musical moniker of Allison, Meegan and Natlie Closner have quite a different background and trajectory entirely. The three really didn't become an act per say until Natlie's senior year in College. Before then they were finding their ways via different, sometime intersecting paths but not as a group. Their first incarnation was as Dearborn but while visiting their grandfather Jo in eastern Oregon, Allison made a playlist for the trip named after the town he lived in and called it "Joseph", the rest as they say.
Joseph is obviously a triple threat, just listen to their live performances of the sad, reflective Shivers and the cool, vibey, folk bounce of NYE, one guitar and three voices and nothing else is needed to grab you as their emotions wash fully over you.
Joseph's full length album "Good Luck Kid" is out now.
- Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
Joseph is pure magic and pure talent. Their music is simply, euphoric. There is nothing like the sound of siblings singing together. Whether it’s the Beach Boys or the Everly Brothers—or, more recently, First Aid Kit—absorbing the same breathing rhythms and speech patterns adds an element to vocal harmonies that can be pure magic. With the release of Good Luck, Kid, the mesmerizing, hypnotic sound of the trio known as Joseph—made up of sisters Allison, Meegan, and Natalie Closner—joins this elite company.
The Closners didn’t actually start singing together when they were growing up in Oregon, the children of artistic parents (their dad was a jazz singer and drummer, their mom a theater teacher). Natalie was the performer, while Meegan and Allison stayed out of her lane, joining in for their mother’s musical theater productions but otherwise avoiding the spotlight. When Natalie was in college, she began pursuing music more seriously. The summer before her senior year, she went to Nashville to check out the scene and work on her guitar playing and songwriting. A talk with a friend there set off a curious epiphany that convinced Natalie to ask her sisters to sing with her.
A transformation occurred when the Closners were in the process of recording their first album, Native Dreamer Kin. At the time, they were calling themselves Dearborn, but their producer felt that the name didn’t fit the strength of the music. They went to visit their grandfather Jo, in the eastern Oregon town of Joseph. Allison made a playlist for the trip and called it “Joseph,” which is what influenced the band’s name.
“Once she said it, it just hit us all—that’s what this is and who we are, these are the sounds of the land that we’ve lived on,” says Natalie. “It’s this crazy firecracker thing that happens—‘Am I feeling something? Is anyone? What is this song, what does it do, which parts make the most sense?’ It really is about connection with people, and we’re so grateful we’ve gotten the chance to do that. This has been a totally wild journey, and we’re constantly blown away with possibility of what could be.”
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