GRAMMY Winner Joanie Leeds Releases a Love Letter to her Bubby
You may have sent your grandmother flowers or a heartfelt card for her birthday, but New York City-based Grammy Award winner Joanie Leeds wrote and recorded an entire album, Ageless: 100 Years Young, in time for her Bubby’s milestone 100th birthday.
Ageless is Joanie’s 12th children’s studio album. It is inspired by her grandmother, Sylvia Furshman Nusinov, with tunes that will encourage listeners to, just like Bubby, face the world with optimism, be curious, ask questions, and enjoy your favorite sweets! Adding even more nachas (Yiddish for pride), Joanie’s 10-year-old daughter, Joya, is heavily featured on the album, including on the song A, You’re Adorable, where she sings a remake of the Perry Como and The Fontane Sisters classic as an ode to Sylvia and her husband Sam’s 74-year-long marriage.
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Although all of Joanie’s albums are personal and make important topics accessible through her music on records such as Freadom: Songs Inspired by Banned Children’s Books, and All the Ladies, Ageless: 100 Years Young, is “a piece of art that will live on in my family for generations to come,” Joanie shares. Joanie was inspired to write Ageless while performing at a show in South Florida a few years ago and interviewed her grandmother in hopes of learning more about her life to be able to write this special album. “It’s funny because, as a songwriter, there is a time before the songs are written when it’s simply an idea, and then everything after. Consumers only hear the finished product, but sometimes the process is even more fun. As a songwriter who loves a theme, I was fixated on how to tell her story properly. It was meaningful to research and learn more about Bubby in the process through letters, pictures, and storytelling!”
The Bubby Behind the Music
The opening track, Don’t Worry, is one of Bubby’s favorites on the album and is based on one of her famous lines: “never worry worry till worry worries you.” The song reminds little listeners (and grown-ups, too!) to let go of anxieties and be in the moment, weaving in additional quotes from Oprah and Jon Kabat-Zinn.
We learn even more about Bubby on Genealogy, a powerful song following Sylvia’s quest to find relatives lost during the Holocaust. Featuring Michael Napolitano on percussion, we learn the lengths she had to go through to find surviving members of her family on this folk-rock tribute. Joanie’s poetic chorus includes the line “leaves and branches roots that make me,” driving home the importance of knowing where we all come from. We also learn through the song that Sylvia’s search led her to write a genealogical workbook to help other people find their roots through researching techniques she applied herself. Her book is held at the Library of Congress.
And if you don’t call your grandmother “Bubby”, that’s OK! I’m sure whatever you call her is included on the track, Bubby, which ticks off the myriad ways we refer to our grandmothers across different cultures worldwide. This song will have your little ones dancing around the living room while they’re reminded of these special bonds- no matter if they are grandma, abuela, or yaya!
Ageless: 100 Years Young was released last month, just in time for Grandparents Day on September 7. This album is full of sweet, sentimental tunes you’ll want to share with your children and their grandmothers. The message of love and family shines through in each track, making it a must-add to your music collection. Learn more about Joanie’s other albums and tour dates by visiting joanieleeds.com and following her on Instagram.
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