SINGER SEEKS TO COUNTER FEAR
JJ Voss was scheduled to celebrate the release his album Come Along with Me Friday during a concert at the Exchange. Instead, Voss will be livestreaming his performance Friday night in light of COVID-19 concerns, writes Ashley Martin.
THE ARTIST
JJ Voss has long been part of Saskatchewan’s country music scene.
“I’ve been doing this since the Dead Sea was sick,” he joked.
After growing up in Cupar, Voss started playing in cover bands right out of high school, joining his first professional road band as a 19-year-old.
“There used to be bars that would do bands six nights a week if you can imagine that. And we would learn every brand new song that was on the radio, and we’d fill the dance floor and sell a bunch of beer and we got paid for it. And at that point I thought I was in the music business, but I really, really wasn’t. I was just selling beer.”
Voss started writing songs when he was in his 30s.
He has since recorded three albums, the latest of which is out this week.
THE SONG
Come Along With Me is the title track of Voss’s new record.
Its songs were inspired during a long recovery from back surgery. Voss said he was spending a lot of time on social media and noticed “people are becoming very divided and very polarized in their views about everything.”
He said he wanted to write something to inspire connection
and optimism.
That’s reflected in one of the song ’s lyrics: “Let’s listen to our conscience, not just our social feed.”
“The overall theme is basically just about trying to be better people. Self-improvement, self awareness, and just trying to be a better person,” said Voss.
The album carries the same theme. “I was asked if this was a concept album, and I said, ‘Well, if being better people and being better to each other as human beings is a concept, then it’s a concept album.’”
THE WORDS
The chorus goes:
“Come along, come along, come along with me / Side by side, hand in hand, the way it’s supposed to be / Respect one another, let love take the lead / So come along, come along, come along with me.”
The song is “kind of a call to action,” said Voss.
“It’s lay your swords down; let’s look at each other like human beings. In the last five years, we’ve had an influx of refugees from the Middle East … and we forget that they’re human beings and we forget that their blood is red and they feel pain the same way that we do.
“When you bring in refugees, there’s a lot of people that are scared. And fear is a natural response to something that you don’t know,” Voss added.
“And so that’s what that first verse was about, is to refuse to let fear take control and to look at these people beyond the political noise, beyond the noise that you hear in the media, and look at them as human beings.
“And what would you do if that person showed up at your door and said, ‘Hey, I need a hand’? I think 90 per cent of people would help that person out.”
LISTEN NOW
The album Come Along With Me is scheduled for release on March 20. Check out the song’s official music video on Youtube (search JJ Voss).
HEAR IT LIVE
JJ Voss was supposed to perform Friday at The Exchange in Regina. It was going to be the first date on a tour taking him across Saskatchewan this month and next. The tour has been postponed in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, Voss will be performing live from his house Friday at 8 p.m. Check out Facebook.com/ Jjvoss for a livestreaming video concert.