Projects in the past were mostly live instrumentation with some track offerings. S.I.R. Rebekkah Holylove is all track offerings, with the exception of the last song, which is called ‘Kingless Queen”, which is just me on the piano.
U.G. Digital Mag: Why more digitally this time?
Joi Gilliam: Well for one, it’s expensive to have a band, on everything.
U.G. Digital Mag: OK.. I love live instrumentation.
Joi Gilliam: Even though I create in one way in the studio, when I present the. music live, it’s all instrumentation, and I do whatever interpretation of the music via live instrumentation. It still ends of being that anyway. I just give myself the room to allow the music to grow and expand as it will in the various mediums in which I choose to express it. Also, with this album because I’m more self sufficient in terms of production and things of that nature, I can do things from home or at a studio with whoever I collaborate with.
U.G. Digital Mag: That’s the beauty of being independent as well. I’ve always said independence is the way to go when I talk to artists. I love that you're independent.
driver’s seat, but it was also exhausting. After I finished it, I definitely knew that I didn’t know when I would do another record (laughing).
U.G. Digital Mag: It speaks also to the length of the time between that project and this.
Joi Gilliam: Yes. I ended up moving to Los Angeles from Atlanta in 2012. I had just, sort of reached my limit of being in Atlanta. I had done personally all I could do there, and it was time for a change. I moved to the west coast, and didn’t necessarily know I would be doing another record when I came out here, but I knew I needed to stir up my creative energy and renew it. I knew I needed some sunshine and autonomy to get that done. L.A. provided plenty of sunshine, and provided me with a great autonomy. I have some extended family here, but in terms of this being my community, I didn’t know anyone. I was able to move here and experience a very quiet life, which is the complete polar opposite of what people experience when moving to L.A.
U.G. Digital Mag: I know the feeling of moving and not knowing anyone. I recently relocated to the Columbus, Georgia area, and coming from Ohio, it’s awesome that there’s absolutely nothing
Joi Gilliam: ..and have been now, for shit, 15 years. I was no longer on Universal in 2013. Even being signed to Raphael was still an independent experience. That was very brief, and once he decided he was going another direction and not do the label, free and clear, I had my masters. He said take it, run and do what I was going to do with it. I had control of the masters of Tennessee Slim, pressed them jokers up myself, put the shit on CD Baby, put it in my trunk and hit the road.
U.G. Digital Mag: It speaks to someone who also did the homework and knew what they were doing, vs someone else being in that same situation and not knowing how to move.
Joi Gilliam: Well, there are many examples of folks who have done it that way, so I was like, why not me? I’m not necessarily the most business savvy, but I know how to hustle, and get it done to the best of my ability with the resources I have. That’s what I did with Tennessee Slim, and it turned out to be a really good run for me. I was able to do shows off the album for a couple years. It was well received, and a great executive production effort that I could be proud of. I was firmly in the