by Missy Votel, Editor/Music Writer

Singer/songwriter plays by her own rules

Joy Wilson has always had a little problem with the rules. Growing up in small-town Ohio, she never did like authority.

"I was ornery and opinionated," she said of her teen years, admitting she may have set a trash can or two on fire. It's something she wouldn't recommend to her young audience members, saying it still comes back to haunt her occasionally.

"I can't talk about it because they never found out I was the one who did it," she laughs. End of subject.

Luckily for trash can owners of the world, Wilson found a safer outlet for her creative energy: music. However, her gutsy lyrics and voice prove she's still got a bit of that rebellious nature.

"I'm not technical, not by the book. There's no formal format to my songs," she said. Form or no form, Wilson has a distinctive sound, reminiscent of Natalie Merchant. She predictably squirms at categorizing it.

"For lack of a better term... I'd call it alternative folk rock, " she said, "whatever the hell alternative means these days."

Maybe Wilson defies categorization because, for the most part, she was self-taught. She picked up her first guitar at 14 because she "idolized the Indigo Girls."

"It was an acoustic 6-string, sort of a cheapie, but it served me well for nine years," she said.

Wilson, whose leopard-print glasses and black leather jacket betray her claim of being introverted, said she grew up honing her skills on an audience of one.

"I had a lot of privacy. I never really sang for anyone," she said. Eventually she did share her pastime with others- at a high school talent showcase.

"It took me six months just to get the guts to do it," she said.

Her first paid gig was as a freshman singing during dinner at the College Union Building at Fort Lewis College.

"It was horrific wathcing all these people eat their dinner while I sang," she recalled. The upside? She made $40, enought to help her get home to Ohio for the summer.

When Wilson returned to school, she cashed in the solo career in favor of band life. She made the rounds and associated with bands such as Toast and Deep-Fried Tofu. Both groups, despite their appetizing names, are now defunct.

However, Wilson's solo career was beckoning the singer back. In 1995, she recorded her first album, You Had To Be There, in Durango. She was joined by Brian Carter on bass, lead guitar and keyboards, and David Sachs on drums.

Halfway through recording the album, which Wilson wrote in its entirety, she joined another band- Earthtone. It was with this band, which also included Sachs, songwriter Tim Guidotti on guitar and Jim Belcher on bass, among others, that Wilson experienced her first taste of continued success. She played with Earthtone for two and a half years and became a regular of the Durango and Four Corners live muisc scene.

However, despite success, band members, including the two songwriters, decided it was time to pursue their own dreams.

"We had a lot of fun together; it was just different directions we were headed," said Wilson.

Wilson, along with Sachs and Belcher, struck out on their own as the Joy Wilson Band. And once again the three are steadily making a name for themselves playing live gigs. However, they plan to go one further with an album slated for release May 14th at the Summit Bar in Durango. Rebers's Lesson, as the CD is titled, was named for a class Wilson took from FLC Art professor and local artist, Mick Reber.

"The gist of the lesson was seeing the beauty and uniqueness of everyday, ordinary, mundane things," said Wilson. She said her song "3 a.m.," written while sitting in a bus sation in Boulder, Colorado, perhaps best exemplifies the theme of the album.

"That song demonstrates what I was trying to do," she said. "I was trying to see beauty in this bland bus station... I was trying to see the little things that paint the big picture."

And it is the big picture that Wilson has kept in focus since embarking on her music career.

"I want to be able to do music for a living- which I am," she said. "My next goal is to do music for a lucrative living."

Already, Wilson seems to be making headway. She hired a manager, Debbie Bridges, ("people don't want to talk to you if you're representing yourself," Wilson said) and started her own record label, Yu Go Girl Records. Putumayo World Records, a national folk label which has featured artists such as Sarah McLachlan, has expressed interest in using her song "Fisherman's Catch" on a compilation album.

Despite the glimmerings of success in Durango, Wilson said it is getting increasingly hard to spread her wings in a small, isolated town. As of January 2000, Wilson, Bridges, and Sachs are Portland, Oregon bound.

"We'd love to stay in Durango, but we can't amke it musicially," she said. Wilson, who also has a sister in Portland, said she chose the city because it is "still cool, environmentally couth, has public transit, arts and is beautiful" and she thinks it will be just the place to launch a national career.

"We have a lot ot bring to the bargaining table," said the self-confident singer, who at 24 shows no signs of the shy teen who played, horror-stricken to her college dining hall.

"I've grown a lot since then, but I'm still ornery when it comes to following the rules. I like to make my own."