Nelson will perform songs from her CD at 8 p.m. on Dec. 10 at Cornerstone Coffee Roasters.
Nelson began writing songs in high school, and later performed at talent shows and had several Cat Cab concerts at Linfield. She has played at other venues in Portland and McMinnville, too.
Nelson majored in studio art at Linfield. She said that she deals with elements from the natural world in her songs and paintings.
“I talk about the same things through different mediums. Doing art trained me to be more creative,” Nelson said.
Nelson works at Red Fox Bakery in McMinnville and in the Academic Advising Office. She went to New York in October and has also traveled all over Oregon. Nelson said she enjoys the freedom from graduating.
“I work from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., but when you’re done with work, you can do whatever you want,” Nelson said. “You don’t have homework, and you have mind space to be creative.”
Nelson said she was not expecting to win the Battle of the Bands last spring.
“It was crazy. The grand prize was studio recording time,” she said. “I was planning on recording way in the future. It was like, ‘Wow, I can do this now.’”
She recorded tracks during the end of June and didn’t hear from the producer until August. She sent e-mails back and forth about what to change during September and October.
“All of this was new to me. I really didn’t know what I was doing,” Nelson said.
She said she had to learn about how to get a barcode, CD cases and a copyright.
Nelson explained how artists have a great deal of self doubt in the music industry.
“It was a gratifying experience,” she said. “After I heard the initial recording I said, ‘Wow, this is all right. I kind of like it.’”
She writes her own songs and said she cannot wait to share the CD with the people in her life.
“I write songs about people, life events and experiences,” Nelson said. “It’s a really special gift that you can give someone. To be able to say, ‘Oh, I wrote this song about you,’ is neat to share with people.”
Nelson said there were challenges throughout the process and many details that accompany recording.
“I asked a lot of questions,” she said. “I called my friends who have made albums and asked them how to do things. I see why people hire people to do these things for them.”
She said it is hard to manage time in the studio.
“It is an intense thing to do because, in the studio, every minute counts. You don’t get very much time.”
Nelson said she doesn’t know where she wants her future music career to go. She likes that it takes a while to see results in the music industry.
“I’ll send my album to a few different labels to see if they want to do anything,” Nelson said. “You can just see where it goes. It wasn’t a huge investment for me, so I only have to sell several CDs to break even. Next summer, I might promote it.”
She described her CD as typical singer-songwriter material.
“It is cool how many people have helped me,” she said. “The encouragement was great. If someone else can appreciate the CD, then it’s good enough.”
To learn more and hear recordings, visit her new MySpace page at www.myspace.com/joynelsonmusic (no music) and her old one at www.myspace.com/aponderosatale (featuring past recordings).
Hillary Krippaehne/Copy editor
Hillary Krippaehne can be reached at [email protected].
