Musicians

Every production of the Joy Trip Project podcast features original music graciously provided by several independent artists. Their tunes add a great deal to the listening quality of each episode by helping to set a mood or establish a theme. As this is a very low budget operation the JTP doesn’t pay licensing fees for the use of this music. The tunes you hear are donated by musicians that share the values reflected in stories we present. So please support the performers that support us. Buy their music either online or in your favorite CD store. Attend their live shows. Purchase their T-shirts and other gear. And above all tell your friends how much enjoying listening their songs!

We’re always looking for new contributing artists. If you’d like to share your music in exchange for a web link and the gratitude of a fellow artist write to info@joytripproject.com

Chad Farran has made a name in the San Diego music scene by playing hundreds of shows with many local bands throughout the region, producing music for TV shows and independent films, and recording CD projects for local musicians.Over the past 3 years he has been involved in the production of music for the popular surf/travel show On Surfari that airs on FOX network’s Fuel TV, and has managed to capture the essence of foreign countries that the show travels to by studying the traditions and instruments from each place, incorporating them into musical pieces, and creating a contemporary and refreshing soundtrack. 

Farran’s most recent CD release is , with 22 songs featured in the first season of Fuel TV’s On Surfari. The CD features a rich landscape of music with ethnic instrumentation and grooves inspired by travels to India, Panama, Mauritius and New York.

Though some still have trouble pronouncing his last name and the instrument he plays, Jake Shimabukuro (she-ma-BOO-koo-row) is recognized as one of the world’s most exciting and innovative ukulele (oo-koo-LAY-lay) players and composers.

Jake’s latest album is Live, his first full-length CD since 2006′s best-selling Gently Weeps. After taping dozens of U.S. and overseas performances Jake chose these tracks as representing “the best of the best” of his live playing. Every track reveals a different side of the ukulele: soft and sensitive at times, other times cheery and playful, occasionally dramatic, and, once in a while, hard and aggressive. The 17-song CD, released in April 2009, includes 12 Shimabukuro originals (Nine versions of his best-known compositions, plus four brand-new tunes) and five covers (including a jaw-dropping version of J.S. Bach’s “Two-Part Invention No. 4 in D Minor” and a memorable interpretation of “Thriller,” the Rod Temperton song made famous by Michael Jackson). Of course there’s a live version of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” which might be Jake’s best-recorded version yet!

Initially formed as an acoustic string band, seven years of constant touring has transformed Hot Buttered Rum into a plugged-in, percussive powerhouse that wows critics and fans alike. Their left-coast rock reveals an access to jazz, country, and world music that few groups can match. While the band’s music belies simple categorization, its songwriting and stage chemistry delights listeners at every turn.

Hot Buttered Rum’s story is one of evolution. The “high altitude bluegrass” era captured on their first studio album, In These Parts, found the band enjoying success at such diverse stages as the Newport Folk Festival, Bonnaroo, Grey Fox, High Sierra, Wakarusa, and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Along the way, the group shared the stage with some of today’s most accomplished artists, including Phil Lesh, Bela Fleck, Ben Harper, and Nickel Creek’s Chris Thile. In 2006, acoustic pioneer Mike Marshall produced Hot Buttered Rum’s second studio album, Well-Oiled Machine, and captured the sound of a hard-touring band charting its course along the highways and byways of American music.

Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayem offer up wicked grooves, sublime lead singing, great harmonies, sparkling original songs, and a deep repertoire that spans 200 years of American music. Four people who share an irresistible chemistry on stage. An unusually gleeful string band that celebrates both tradition and improvisation and that stumps the categorizers. (Are they an agnostic gospel band? A homeopathic bluegrass band? Are they crazy?).

Start with a fiddle, a guitar, and a standup bass. Add a cardboard box with a suitcase bass drum and tin can cymbals, played by an ex-rock and zydeco drummer. Over that fine groove, hang Rani Arbo’s expressive alto, seamless four-part harmonies, and a splash of banjo and ukulele, and you have it.