Joel Cage - singer/songwriter

By: Dominick A. Miserandino

Searching for a better quality of life, fame and fortune and "the essential" all through his music, Joel has quite a following. Learn why fans love this folk musician who plays a variety of folk music called, everything from "Americana" to "Folk with Balls"

DM) I believe that you hail from New England?

JC) I "hail" from Boston, MA, and also have residence in Meredith, NH.

DM) How did you start in your work?

JC) I've been performing in bands and solo since I was 17, when I dropped out of college to seek fame and fortune in the "biz".

DM) And how much fame/fortune have you found?

JC) Virtually none, in the rhetorical sense. However, in the subjective, my fame is in the many friends I have met in my travels, whose presence honor me with each and every show attended. My fortune is my autonomy. I am proud that I have been able to forge out a living doing what I want to do on my own terms. I'm perched and ready to fly should I ever get "the calling", but in the meantime, I have been able to build a life pretty much to my own specs and keep my focus on those thing I deem important.

DM) Very deep! Do you ever worry that you'll never write something as good as "your best so far"?

JC) No. I basically write for myself, and that being the case, I am rarely "disappointed" with the quality of my writing. Once you toss a song out into the jet stream, it's up to the listeners to deem what is "better or best". At shows, people often ask me to play my "best" or "favorite" song, which is different from moment to moment. I simply try to stay in the present and respond to each moment as honestly as possible. Every time I write a new song, it's a personal victory, and if the folks dig it as well, that's a big fat bonus!

DM) So you're satisfaction isn't based entirely on the brilliance of the song, but just the song itself?

JC) Surely there are songs I've written of which I am more "proud" than others, but the element of their "brilliance" I leave up to the listener. Like a parent of his/her child, I do not favor one song over another in any tangible sense. I simply write 'em, one at a time, and move on once I consider them finished. I do develop favorites after they've been recorded, or during performance, but it is a transient feeling that shifts from day to day, mood to mood, is more a result of the moment rather than the essential.

DM) What is "the essential"?

JC) The essential" in this rhetorical usage, is "that which is in essence", simply meaning that my feelings of favoritism regarding my tunes are inconsistent and subject to constant change. I am often asked, during performance, what is my favorite song to play, and I just don't have a pat answer to this. The parent-child analogy is apt here, in asking a good parent to suggest which one of his/her siblings is the "favorite" - it would be unfair to choose one over the other if the same amount of love and care has been invested in the creation and nurturing. If anything, I would lean towards choosing a newer song which is still in the experimental stage, or an older song which may be in the process of evolving into something different than it was at it's conception.

DM) What would you do if you didn't make enough at this to do this exclusively?

JC) I guess I'd have to say, quite simply, that "I don't know". But being that I've done little else professionally since I was a teenager, I don't anticipate having to come up with any other response.

DM) What is your favorite piece of your own work?

JC) Impossible to say, each song, written, recorded, or performed is a new moment in time for me - my favorite one is, most accurately, the one that's yet to come...

DM) Where do you see your career as going from here?

JC) The adaptation of my vision to match the reality of my existence is an ongoing process - my true aim is to seek a lifestyle, born of autonomy, that allows for the free expression of my views through music while maintaining the "quality of life". This is to say that I could see, and would accept, any number of possible scenarios that would provide for any modicum of success. As long as I have songs to write and people for whom to perform, I am already where I want to be.

DM) What is your "Quality of life"?

JC) My music and my life are life my own small business. I have the luxury of rising each new day, choosing to work hard at something that I love, and how I will focus my energy, whether it be recording, writing, administration, or simply hanging out. When I think about all the elements attendant to "success", short of unlimited finances, I realize that I pretty much have them all - I have work, income, time to spend with my people, and the will, desire and facility to persevere. I have my own space to which I can retreat in solitude, and opportunity to venture out into the wild world, meet with people and have new experiences. I've always felt that the best way to get where you want to be is to be happy where you are. For myself, this philosophy has worked out well.

DM) Would you describe your music as "folk"?

JC) I call myself a "folk" musician, although there are those who might dispute this moniker... "aggressive folk", "AAA", "alt-folk", "Americana" are all labels that have been used in the past, by others, to describe my tunes - my favorite one is "folk with balls".

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