Is there anything Vance Joy can't do? The man born James Keogh is already an internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter, and before that, he was an excellent student (he holds a law degree) and he was an Australian-rules footballer who played for two years at the semiprofessional level.

"I'm not very good at whistling," Keogh admits. "I can't cook. There's lots of things I can't do. I can't speak any other languages or anything like that," adding that — despite Australian stereotypes depicted on TV and in films — he is not a surfer, nor does he sport a bronze tan. "I've got pasty white skin," he says.

But the music has certainly served him well. When Vance Joy was in town to open for fellow Ozzie artist Amy Shark at the First Avenue Mainroom in Minneapolis, he stopped at The Current for an in-studio session hosted by Brian Oake.

Vance Joy's music interest began rather inauspiciously. He had grown bored with music lessons at age 14, but his father was having none of it. "My dad got me a guitar and he said, 'You're getting lessons; this is going to happen whether you like it or not. I'm going to drag you in there'," Keogh recalls. "Luckily I developed a love for guitar. … I started playing a lot."

That love for guitar eventually blossomed into his 2014 debut album, Dream Your Life Away, which spawned the global hit "Riptide" and led to a worldwide circuit opening for Taylor Swift on her 1989 tour.

Now Vance Joy is touring based on his latest single, "Fire and the Flood," but he assures us an album is in the offing. "There's one that's lurking in the shadows," he says. "I think I'll finish this tour, and then I've got a little bit of time to do the final touches and then hopefully early next year, I'll have a full album to tour with."

Use the audio player above to listen to the complete in-studio session with Vance Joy.

Songs Performed

"Fire and the Flood"
"Lay It on Me"
The first song is from the deluxe edition of Vance Joy's 2014 album, Dream Your Life Away; the second song is a 2017 single. Both were released on Liberation Music and distributed in the U.S. by Atlantic Records.

Hosted by Brian Oake
Produced by Anna Reed and Derrick Stevens
Engineered by Corey Schreppel
Visuals by Nate Ryan
Web feature by Luke Taylor

Resources

Vance Joy - official site

Gallery

Fullscreen SlidePrevious Slide

13 of 13

1 of 13

2 of 13

Next Slide