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Hi, my name is Joshua Furman. I'm the curator of the Houston jewish history archive at Rice University and I'm so excited to be interviewing joe Buchanan. Today joe is a rising star in the world of Jewish music and he has a unique and really fascinating story

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to tell and we're gonna get to hear today and listen to some music that's gonna be great Joe, how are you doing? I'm, you know, I'm doing as well as I think anybody can be doing during all this. Uh it's an honor to talk to you

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and it's nice to see you. Yeah, it's good to see you again. I should mention today is May 11, actually. My birthday is coming up in a couple of days. My birthday is gonna be this coming Shabbat. It's gonna be the strangest birthday that I've celebrated

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in some time. Yeah, so Joe just uh let's start off. So glad you said what day it is. Yeah, that's a that's interviewing 101 Always, always give the day. Always give the time, Joe tell us about your childhood and your family growing up. Um

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and just some of your earliest memories that stick out. Yeah. You know, I I had a I had a really split childhood. It was kind of like a couple of different lives happening at the same time. I was raised by my grandparents until I was about

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six years old. Born in Clear Lake Texas and they had a family ranch down in Spofford Texas way, way down near the border. And so I would spend, you know, a decent chunk of the year, you know, here in the Houston area and then a huge

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chunk you know down there on that ranch. So growing up in those two places was was a pretty cool way to come up. You sort of get this like Texas education, a massive Texas education growing up. But you know that my grandfather really was my, was

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my hero coming up and he talked, he talked a lot about God and really instilled kind of a basic idea about God in me as a kid. You know, he said that you can see God in the world, you can see God in the way that

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people work and and if there's, you know, and and I think if if anything, if God wants anything from you is to do good stuff with your life that was sort of like from what I understood his beliefs kind of in a nutshell. Um but I

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lived with him until I was six when we moved in with my um my mom married my dad when I was six years old in that house. Uh it was very different. There was no talk of religion or anything like that and I spent most of

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my time with my friends or staying the night with my friends. So it was interesting. It was like, like I said it was like two or three different lives. Um growing up, but I mentioned my grandfather's my hero to this day, you know I still buy Skin

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Bracer and Old Spice because it smells like him. That's true, That's weird. It's gonna be I'm sure, but it's true yeah. You know anything we can do to hold on to you know people that we love, that's that's really nice. And did you grow up, you know

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so much of of of your life now is about the connection between music and faith. I mean did you grow up not only you know, hearing stories from your grandfather and lessons about God, but also in a in a very musical family? You know my mom

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was always a singer um and the jukebox that we had out on the ranch, it had a bunch of classic country music on it, you know, it was like Marty Robbins and you know, I was born in the late seventies so for me, classic country was

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like George Strait, other people may think like Hank Williams, you know, but it had George Strait Marty Robbins and Hank Williams Jr and all that stuff on it. So that was and my grandmother listened to country music all the time. So it was it was a

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constant influence my mom, you know was was quite a singer. Um so yeah it was kind of the soundtrack to everything. It just kind of ran through everything. Who taught you to play guitar when when did you start playing? You know I picked that up, I

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was I was pretty young self taught. I like to tell people, I'm I'm about, you know, in 20 years, I can't even tell you how to do some math here, but I'm about in 20 years where someone to be after about 10 years of lessons and

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I was self taught and it was just more for fun. I remember my dad bought me an electric guitar at a garage sale once and I came home, I didn't have an amplifier, so I plugged it into the microphone jack and my stereo - Bleeker's, and I

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thought it was the coolest thing in the world. And of course I ruined my stereo when I did it, but I was hooked, you know? And uh, yeah, I just always wanted to make music. I just never felt like I had a lot of things that

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I needed to tell people. Probably not until really all of this happened. I mean, I I struggled so hard with religion as a kid, not with God. I mean, God made sense to me as a kid. God made total sense. But when I left my grandfather's

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house and started, you know, going to churches and stuff with friends and and different family members and things. And I just kept hearing a lot of stuff I I struggled with, had a hard time with that ran counter to what I thought God was and- What

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what kinds of issues specifically felt difficult. Yeah. So, I mean, I can get into it, right, we can do that all right? Um that's the real deal. Um So, I was taught that that, you know, God was a loving God and had made this world made

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us and do good stuff with your life and all that, and but that wasn't in an organized religion sense. I mean, my grandparents that I remember never took me to church or had a bible in the house that I remember. Um but when I started going

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to churches uh to try to find out more, because I was interested in God and stuff, I started hearing a lot things that were tough things like, you know, the concept of original sin, like, you got this weight on you and you're gonna pay for

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this crime that somebody else did that, you know, there's no way you could know, and or were really involved with that you carry the weight of it, and then afterwards you're going to this horrible place of eternal torment. And I it just it was always like,

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well, wait a minute, what if I live a great life, what if I do good stuff with my life? What if I help people and commit to just being a good person? And they were like, well, that that's great, but that's not what matters what matters,

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is that you accept this person -that made no sense to me because if that was the case, my life really doesn't have any value. and I felt like life had a lot of value and it should matter. And also didn't strike the idea of a loving

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God with me, I mean, I don't mean to get all like what was it the show Les Mis where he steals a loaf of bread, if if my dad steals a loaf of bread, I don't go to jail for it, why do I carry the guilt

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of something that someone else did? There may be, you know, if your if your your dad steals something and goes to jail, you're going to be connected with that because that's your father, so there will be some consequences as a result of their actions, but you

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don't carry the guilt of what they've done, you don't carry the crime. And so it it just it didn't make any sense to me. And I felt like the more questions I asked the more you, you know you start hearing things like well your your faith

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isn't strong enough or you know, you are a Doubter, you know, and I'm like, no, I don't doubt at all, that's why I'm asking a million questions, you know, I need to know, and I kind of made the decision as a young person that -There's this

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phrase, right that says 50 million Elvis fans can't be wrong and you hear it from enough people and then you hear it in your own life growing up, you hear people saying things like what's wrong with you, why are you like this, and it starts becoming

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this self fulfilling prophecy, you know, I started doing bad stuff and and then the more you do that, the more you go, oh well there's the validation for it, I'm a terrible person and it was horrible, I mean I I went into just tremendous self loathing

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uh growing up and it was tied to all the things that happened to you, you know, as you're growing up and then also this relationship with God, it was just a hot mess and I'm not saying that's anybody's fault, that's just how I interpreted the world

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and growing up, that's what we do, right? We, they say that kids feel like the world revolves around them because it does, it's all they know is how things interact with them and how they interact with those things. They don't have a greater sense of the

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world yet, so that is their world anyway, it wasn't anybody's fault, but it's definitely what happened and uh and religion was a key part of it, a real key part of it. That's your, that's your journey. So take us on the next, the next step for

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the next sort of turning point in in the evolution of of who Joe Buchanan is today. Yeah, well, again, even we were talking earlier about kind of the different lives in different places, this has been a completely different life. Um and I will definitely take you back to

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the beginning of sort of how this happens. I think that's the key of it. I was working in a gaming store where we sold board games and Dungeons and Dragons and this was in Clear Lake um and a long time ago. When dinosaurs roamed the earth. Right, welcome to Jurassic Park.

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I was working in this gaming store, board games, Dungeons Dragons adventures, all that stuff. We didn't get a lot of customers because that's what we sold, but I brought my guitar to work a lot because I had a lot of time on my hands and mutual

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friend, what's that business was slow. Yeah, it wouldn't be slow today. Today, it's crazy popular, but it was slow back then. So this lady walks in with a mutual friend and uh you know, I it was, I mean she stopped the clock the second that she

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walked in. I I I couldn't have told you what day of the week it was, I couldn't tell you my name was, I just knew that I had to know exactly who she was as soon as possible and a mutual friend introduced us and she was

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like Joe, this is April, April, this is Joe, Joe plays guitar. And I was like, yes, yes, I do, I do. So corny, right? And I was like can I play you a tune? And she's like fine. And shortly after we were married, you know, some

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music totally worked. I uh uh I will I would tell you that love at first sight existed. It did for me and my wife will probably tell you it took her a little while but we're not interviewing her today. But so when we moved in together,

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you know, and I told her I said, look, I I want to get religion back in my life, I want to understand God, I want to understand what that relationship is with God and what's out there. And she was like, I'll go with you, I'm not

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really into all that. But if you want to explore it, let's do it. Can you tell a little bit about April's background? Yeah, I don't wanna I don't wanna tell you too much that I want to give it away. It was she was part of a

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military family and she uh you know, they moved around a lot when she was young and she was studying theater or or doing theater at community colleges and stuff when uh when I met her and and at local theater companies. So we did a few shows

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together early on and stuff. So that was that was you know what I knew sort of when I met her and it was interesting to me that April would sing all the time around the house, but she would go with me to these churches and she

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didn't wanna sing anything, she wouldn't say the prayers, she wouldn't do anything like that. And I asked her, I was like, you know, you you don't wanna you don't wanna sing anything. I mean she's she's a Disney Disney Princess, she sings the birds come out and

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do stuff and and she didn't want to do anything and she's like, I'm just here for you. I was like, okay, that's fine. I went up for communion once and I asked her, I said you want to bring anything back? And she said no how it

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works. And this lady had told me on my way up there, she goes, there, she goes, we don't do take out. And I said no, that's that's true. And so anyway, in a relationship you you decide whether or not you're doing something together or if it's

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just you and they're coming along and and after a while it that doesn't that doesn't hold water. You know, it's very easy for um compromise to turn into resentment. And although that didn't happen, I kinda put a put a stop to it cause I was like,

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you know, we're not doing this together, I can study on my own. You know, we don't need to go spend our time together doing this. Yeah, so something didn't feel quite right to her, but you couldn't put your finger on what it was. Yeah. And she

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wouldn't tell me, I mean all she would say is that this is not for me. And whenever we would talk about things like God, it was in a very general sense. And she would just kind of let me talk and like, oh that's interesting. It really

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didn't didn't say a lot about what she believed, if she believed anything at that time, so fast forward 13 years. And this is kind of really where it all sort of happened. We're outside the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D. C. And she were trying to make

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sense of what we just saw, what you can't, you know, it defies all logic, it makes no sense. And we're just shaken to the core and she looks at me and she goes, I think I want to get in touch with my people's faith, and I

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was like, well who who are your people who who's that, you know? And because nobody says that and you should you should be concerned if someone says my people, that's not that's not a great phrase. And I said, well who are your people? And she goes,

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I'm Jewish, like I'm supposed to know, right? And I was like, what I said, what do you mean? How did you get Jewish? And she was like, I was born Jewish and I said that's not a thing, I start mansplaining to my wife and I'm like

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that's not a thing, you can't be born Jewish. And she's like Joe that's how it works, I'm like how am I supposed to know that? Who knows that? And she's like, everybody knows that. And she goes, my mom's Jewish. I said, yeah, I know your mom's

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Jewish. I didn't know that just made you Jewish. And she was like, oh my God, she goes Our son's Jewish. I said he is, does he know that? And she's like, I don't know if he does, we should probably tell him, like, yeah, I think so.

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And I told her, I said, look, uh the only thing I know is there's something about pork, but we will, we will figure it out, figure this out. So, so, literally right there outside the Holocaust Museum. You are, you're discovering things about April a woman you've

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been married to for 13 years. And and there was never any, you know, hint or or discussion of this before, you know, knowing, knowing now what I know. There were hints everywhere. She never she never she never said like, I'm Jewish, right? But she said that

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her mom was, I knew her mom was um but I didn't understand about the passing of the covenant and all that kind of stuff. And she had a star of David necklace in her jewelry box. I thought she was just very supportive of her mother. Um

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she had because, and I'll get to that. So, and then one of the first dates we went on was her cousin's Jewish wedding, which was a fabulous wedding- the A C went out, It was like a free open bar for several hours. It was great, Like

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the best wedding I've ever been to. It was awesome, but I didn't understand that. You could just be jewish because my experience with religion was always like, you accept this and therefore you are this. That's, that's not the model of organized religion that you grew up

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with. I had no exposure to it. And the truth is, I never met anyone growing up that I knew was jewish. I never saw a synagogue ever. Houston has the, as what the largest conservative synagogue in the country. I never saw anyone that wore any of

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the obvious, you know, things (unclear) or a star of David out in the open or anything like that. I never saw a star of David, except except in two weeks for about two weeks in history class, which was a terrible way to learn everything, you know

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about the people. Um, I knew nothing and I thought, I thought I knew stuff, but so we uh, so we, we went to this synagogue in Houston after a little bit and we walked in Rabbi Stewart Federow was the rabbi there and he looked at us

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and I said, uh, I said, hi, my name is, my name is Joe, this is my wife April and our son Nathan. They're Jewish. I'm not and none of us really know what that means. And um, and he goes, well, do you want me to sum

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up Judaism for you? And I was like, yes, that'd be great. I didn't realize what an ask that is, right. What a thing to ask of. Somebody. We got a million books. He goes, okay, great. He goes, he goes, here's the deal. It's a lot to

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do. And I didn't realize at the time, someone recently told me they were like, this is like, the on one foot story, right? Tell me the whole the whole Torah while standing on one foot. And so he goes, I'll summarize Judaism for you. He said, that's

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right. He goes, uh, he goes, look, there's one God and there's nothing wrong with you. You're amazing the way you are, and loved by God exactly as you are. You don't have to be Jewish or anything else to be loved by God. He goes, you you

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don't have any any weight on your soul. You're not carrying guilt from anything anyone else did, and you're not damaged goods. You're not broken person. He said, you're great. Just like this. He said, you do good because it brings more good in the world. That's the

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reward, whatever happens next, we don't know, but this is the gift, and you got to live the gift and take care of it. And I was like, I mean, it it completely rocked my world and made total sense. And I told him, I said, let's do

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it. I want to do this. He's like, you want to do what I said, I want to be Jewish and he's like, you know, you don't have to and I'm like, no, but I want to do this. It was like talking to my grandfather again. I

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mean it made so much sense and it was like 30 years of therapy at the same time, I didn't realize my wife, my wife loved me so much and hard enough that I started to see that I had value and started to be okay with the

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idea that I had value as a person. And then Judaism came along and just the world suddenly made sense. And I felt like I had a place in that, not just where you ever wonder. I mean it's so interesting about, you know, these moments in our

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lives and the people that we just happened to meet and that had an impact on us. I mean if you hadn't gone to the Holocaust Museum or if you hadn't had that interaction with that rabbi, um things, things could have flipped in any number of directions,

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You know, it's really interesting to, to think about. So so tell me about, tell me about learning to be Jewish, Tell me about the conversion process. What was that like for you? Yeah, it was great. It was, it was truly great. Um Stewart's an amazing rabbi,

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Stewart's an amazing teacher and um you know, we, we had classes every week and you had to go to services and and take in and bring a lot of questions. It was a lot of debate and open discussion and it was amazing. It was the best

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way I think to, to learn about not just that, what what Judaism is at its core and learn about the Jewish people and how all this works and what you're going to be agreeing to do, you know, by accepting this, but also how it's different. I

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mean, a big part of what Rabbi Federow does is he is a I'm trying to think a comparative religion scholar, because if you're gonna understand what what Judaism is, it's important also to understand what it isn't, you know, and he knew what mindset I came from

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and what my experience was. And so kind of, the whole first part of it was here are the actual differences, you know, and it was, it was an amazing class. It really opened up my eyes, I still like to pop in from time to time to

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that class and April will go with me and we'll just sit in there with the folks who were learning and you know, and and the rabbi is great with it and it's been great. It really kicked off. It kicked off everything with our, with the way

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our new family dynamic is it brought us much closer as a family, it brought me more into my own life. I didn't realize I was outside of, it's like you talked about, you know what, if something didn't happen, I don't know where I would be or

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where we would be if we hadn't found this, I think we'd be okay, but it wouldn't be this and this is amazing. This is amazing. And um yeah, kicked off songwriting too. I mean, I picked up my guitar that I had set down for years because

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I didn't feel like it was anything that I had any value as a songwriter. What were you, what were you doing professionally at those things happening? What what were you doing to to make money at that? Your your previous Yeah, I was working by that time,

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I was working in human resources, uh working with folks out in the field in uh, you know, the oil, the oil field, the, the energy sector, you know, all up and down the Texas Gulf coast. I was on the road and plants, refineries, pulp, paper, steel,

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all that stuff. Um the vast majority of the time. Um so that was that was my job very different now in normal times. Still on the road a lot, but still on the road. Yeah, I mean, now as a, as a, as a touring artist, I

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mean, I'm on the road about three weekends a month, except for obviously right now, but a lot of those things I did in human resources were around, you know, helping people come back together, kind of repairing damage that was done. You know, when you start losing

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employees, you got to figure out well what did we do because we might have done something, you know, and I would go investigate that stuff and it's actually served me quite well in this role, Rabbi Federow and and those classes getting a crash course in Jewish

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holidays and Jewish history and and all this stuff by the way, just as an aside, do you, do you have a favorite Jewish holiday? I is it is it corny if I say Shabbat? No, I would definitely, it's, it really is my favorite. I mean there's

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okay, there's two, I'll tell you the two and this was one of my answers I gave to um the fact that Shabbat rolls around every week and we have the opportunity to to keep working, to get it right, you know, to keep working, to find a

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way to rest better, to lay down our loads more effectively and to kind of reconnect with ourselves and we're not always going to get it right, we're not always gonna be there and and Shabbat is gonna keep moving whether we're ready or not, but it comes

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back, comes back and I love that we keep having those opportunities and then um I would definitely say the big holidays, Rosh Hashanah hands down, hands down the fact that you can stop what you're doing and start doing things differently and you can really do that

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at any time, but we have this time of the year that we do it as a community and as a people, I think it's just absolutely beautiful, really, really interesting, you know, because so much of your, so much of your autobiography is about your life is

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going in one direction and then it goes in another direction. You sort of, you sort of hit the reset button and you just name two holidays that are also kind of about hitting, you know, pausing and you hit the reset button and that's just, that's just

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a really interesting, you know, reflection. That's, that's great. So now tell me, tell me how and why? Well, yeah, um tell me, tell me how this is songwriting for you because there are many people who, you know, find Judaism and you know, embrace it, but but

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it seemed to inspire this creative spark in you that I guess had been dormant for a long time. Yeah, it was, it was really wild. It was when I, right after I finished the conversion classes, I felt like it felt like I had just a million

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things I wanted people to know, um Judaism healed such a big hole that I didn't realize that I had about my own, you know, place in the world and all this and, and there's so many great lessons and also so many misconceptions about what Jewish is

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and what it isn't and what Judaism is about. And I thought, man, this did so much incredible healing for me and it might do some really just great good for other people and just those core ideas, you know about the fact that you're living an incredible

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gift right now and yeah, we're all gonna struggle, but we were made of the stuff of stars, we come from divinity, we can stand back up, you know, and that's what we do and and that you're okay, just like this, that you're not damaged goods, there's,

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there's not a thing wrong with you, you're okay and you can start right now, whatever that's gonna be, you can start right now, there was just so much, this was coming in hard and fast, I wanted to find new ways to connect to prayer and so

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I started writing prayer melodies, I wanted to find new ways to share some of these stories and ideas about values and started writing those things and and it just, it just really took off fast, I put a service together this Americana Shabbat service and uh have

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for the last, almost six years now um been touring all over the country doing that service and we put an album out called Unbroken, which was really about the conversion process and what it's like to join a people to what's it like when you find your

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home after years of searching and it's almost like it found you, you know, it's um so it was kind of all around that, there was just a lot to say A lot to tell people and a lot that a lot of good. I thought it would

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do. Alright. Would you like to play a song for us here? Yeah, man, I would absolutely love to, I'll I'm gonna play you a tune actually. It's the title track off the first album. It's a song called Unbroken. Um I met a guy named Saul Kaye

00:27:14.870 - 00:27:27.160

I was a huge fan of his music and he came to Houston and we talked and spent some time together and he said, uh he said, hey, I understand you write some songs, play me some stuff and I did. And he goes, I want to do

00:27:27.160 - 00:27:37.830

an album. I said, great, let's do an album. He's like, I'm gonna produce an album for you. We need to get this story out. He goes, how many tracks you got? And I said, well, like a lot like 20 something. He's like, look, we're not doing

00:27:37.830 - 00:27:50.450

a time double album here. You need to pick, it's like narrow it down. And he said, but where's the song about your conversion? And I said, well, I don't wanna I don't wanna say all that specific stuff. It's all about the journey home. And he

00:27:50.450 - 00:28:00.410

goes, no, no, no man. He goes, I'm I'm a blues artist. He goes, he goes, I like to swim in the deep end and if you're not gonna go swimming in the deep end, we're not gonna do it. And I was like, all right, that's fair.

00:28:00.420 - 00:28:14.020

He said, as long as you're honest, you gotta be honest, honesty is different from cruelty. Don't be cruel. But be honest. Said Yeah, that's absolutely. So that's that's really where this song came from. I'm gonna pop this ear piece out right here so I can hear

00:28:14.020 - 00:29:17.200

myself while I do this. All right, This is for you. This is for me. There's a truth within reach and it's beautiful bright holy and right. And there is a home. you can reach and it's built from love you and me. There's plenty of room for us under that tree. And I was looking for God

00:29:17.200 - 00:29:47.770

all my life being told God was good. But I wasn't right being told that I was born with a weight from someone else's mistake. And you are told that unless you say yes, you will pay for some ancient and old failed test. And no matter how

00:29:47.770 - 00:30:19.910

good your life it'll never add up in God's eyes and your seeking leads to questions and your questions lead to truth and those lies dissolve and it's just God and you and you realize you are home and you know there's no sin on your soul from ages

00:30:19.910 - 00:31:01.870

ago, you're unchained. You're unbroken. You're unbound. Yeah. So lift your head up high. You can smile and show God your face, even if it's been a while, raise your glass and stand tall because you were made of love after all you can choose to be chosen, you can stand up right off your

00:31:01.870 - 00:31:36.430

knees and the reward for doing good. Well, it's the good in the world that you see. So I walked away from all I fear chose a brand new path that was waiting for years. And there was plenty of room under that tree for the whole wide world. Even you and me. We're unchained.. We're

00:31:36.430 - 00:32:50.860

unbroken. We're unbound. We're unchained. We're unbroken. We're unbound. Where you go. Well I will go Where you stay I will stay. There's no veil on our eyes. It's just truth. Yeah. There's one God for me and you because we are loved by unending love.

00:32:50.860 - 00:33:19.770

Joe, That was great. That was really great. So tell me when did this click for you, grab my ear piece, I'll give you a second. When did you know when did you know that you could do this? As when did you know you could do this

00:33:19.770 - 00:33:39.040

as a career? I mean when when was that Aha moment when you realized that you had a gift like this, you could share with other people. So I kept getting invited to places and you know, one of the, one of the things that's really important to

00:33:39.040 - 00:33:49.590

me is I wanna be, I wanna be a benefit. Like anybody who brings me out to anything I want to be of service. I want to be a benefit and I, I got hired by a community down in McAllen Texas, they said well we want you

00:33:49.590 - 00:34:02.140

to come out and do that Shabbat service that you do And they were gonna have me for a whole weekend, I had written a bunch of music and I remember talking to my wife and going, I need to figure out what this is. You know, it's

00:34:02.140 - 00:34:16.450

it's more than just the music, there's the lessons in the music, there's Torah study that can be done, there's Shabbat services that can be done, there's so much that can be there. And we sat down trying to figure out, well, what do you have to offer,

00:34:16.460 - 00:34:27.170

you know, because that was the biggest thing. I didn't want to just come out to a place and just play some music. I wanted to be of real service to any community that that brought me out and I had to figure out what is it that

00:34:27.170 - 00:34:41.610

I have as an artist, as a as a person um as a, you know, as someone exploring all of this, what do I have to offer communities and then that was really what we built it out of. Is there is there a playbook for that? Is

00:34:41.610 - 00:34:55.760

there are there, are there people that you turn to in the, in the world, which music and you said, hi, my name is Joe and I'm, you know, this is what I do and the kind of music I write, how do I, how do I go

00:34:55.760 - 00:35:11.200

about, you know, making a career out of this? Yeah, I mean there are there are a lot of people who now, of course, now that I know right? I a lot of the things I started doing, I did before I had any context for what it

00:35:11.200 - 00:35:22.390

was. I mean, I started writing Jewish music before I knew any Jewish music. The only music I knew was stuff on that I heard on Friday nights and Saturdays, that was it. You know, I remember somebody asked me at one point, they were like, oh do

00:35:22.390 - 00:35:35.650

you know any Debbie Friedman and I made the horrible mistake of saying who and they were like color drain from their face, you know, and I had no idea, I had people saying, you know, you can't had folks telling me like, you know, Jewish country music

00:35:35.650 - 00:35:51.610

isn't a thing and I'm like, well, but that's what I write, you know, and I'm Jewish and so I had no sense of what was there, I ended up going to a conference called Song Leader boot camp, remember my rabbi, uh he sent me up there

00:35:51.610 - 00:36:05.620

and he was like, you know, learn as much as you can. And I saw people making (unclear) and these huge song groups and I saw the way a lot of things about leadership, you know, can be done with music. And so I took some of those

00:36:05.620 - 00:36:21.350

lessons and then took what I thought I could offer and provide and kind of bundled it all up together and said, I think this is this is what I want to do, you know, and and it's grown, it's really grown in surprising ways. Yeah, I stay

00:36:21.350 - 00:36:35.670

on the road about three weekends every month. I do the services, concerts, Torah study, I do workshops around converting to Judaism and some of the struggles that people find in that um what it's like to separate from one thing to another and through that have also

00:36:35.670 - 00:36:54.040

connected with huge groups of converts all over the country, people who are going through this and it's been it's been incredible, It's been really incredible and I feel like um through this, I feel like I'm still trying to earn it, you know, trying to earn, getting

00:36:54.040 - 00:37:15.700

to be here. And I think this music and this service is one of the ways that I can, that I can do that do you, you might be the the greatest ambassador for Texas Jewry today. Um and you you hear, you hear a lot, you hear

00:37:15.700 - 00:37:37.510

a lot um there's Jews in Texas um uh you know, still there's there's there's in the minds I think of some people um you know, who are used to, you know, Jewish identity, that's very New York centric, this idea that you know, don't have Jews in

00:37:37.510 - 00:37:54.300

Texas right? Or if you do um you know, they fit a certain to fit a certain stereotype. So I mean, have you found in your in your travels and in your work, people are kind of people are kind of shocked or surprised that, you know, that

00:37:54.300 - 00:38:17.120

there is a vibrant, Jewish life in Texas? constantly, constantly. And it's absolutely surprising. But at the same time, what a, what a delight to be able to say. You know, you bet there is and you know, and, and here, I mean, I really, you know, it's

00:38:17.120 - 00:38:34.670

funny. I'm like you mentioned you mentioned what you did about, you know, representing Texas and, and Judaism and stuff. And I'm sitting here realizing that my room looks like a bar. And uh, but yeah, it's, um, I get that a lot. I get that an awful

00:38:34.670 - 00:38:57.590

lot. And uh, right. And Jewish country, it's not like you, it's not like you stepped into a genre that has a lot of, um, a lot of voices that we're used to hearing. Right. Um, I'm interested, you know, I, I know I asked you about influences

00:38:57.590 - 00:39:14.360

early on, but can you talk about as you've, um, you know, matured as a, as a performer of Jewish music? Um, and obviously in terms of, in terms of country music, you know, who, who do you listen to now for inspiration? Who do you enjoy playing

00:39:14.360 - 00:39:34.570

with? Yeah, I mean, it's, it's changed, right. I still have all of my, I guess secular musical influences that I listen to on a regular basis. I still listen to country music all the time. I got to, in fact, I got this record player back here

00:39:34.570 - 00:39:47.210

that I'll put on, you know, I'll start Mondays off with some Willie Nelson and we just carry through the day. And so I still listen to a lot of country music, but I also listen to a lot of Jewish music as well now. Um, and I'm

00:39:47.210 - 00:40:02.390

in the very fortunate place musically and from, as a touring artist that I've, I've gotten to play with people who are big inspirations for me. Um, you know, folks like Saul Kaye and I have toured together. Um, Alana Dakota has recorded her voice on, on both

00:40:02.390 - 00:40:17.600

of my albums. Um, Rick Recht and I are close and have done some touring together and you know, people like Abby Strauss and Naomi Less and you know, it's um, and I just got accepted interestingly enough to uh, Hadar's Rising Song Institute as one of

00:40:17.600 - 00:40:30.740

their fellows for the next two years. So that'll be a whole whole new Jewish. Yeah, it'll be a whole thing. And I'm, I'm, I'm excited. But you know, I listened to those folks and I had the chance to play with them too, which has been huge.

00:40:30.840 - 00:40:49.440

Really huge. That's really great. Um, you want to play another song for us. Thank you. Yeah, I would sure love to. Um, in fact, I'm gonna, I'm gonna play another song. This is off the first album. Um, Stuart Rabbi Federow. It, we've gotten so close, I

00:40:49.440 - 00:41:02.520

find myself sometimes just called Stuart Rabbi Federow had asked me early on, he said, well why don't you write a song about the High Holy days. And so I started writing what was originally a kids song. I didn't realize that it was a song I needed

00:41:02.520 - 00:41:26.920

to hear so much. Um so I'm gonna play that one first and then I got a follow up too for you. That's cool. Well I will take a long at me think about what it is that I see. Well have I been good? Whoa hoo

00:41:26.920 - 00:41:53.880

to you that I do all that. I said I do remembering the words that I've used thinking about the times that I was rude. Well if I am thankful for this gift, let me say it with deeds not just lips, it's gonna be a brave new year and

00:41:53.880 - 00:42:35.550

starting right now right here I'll be strong and stand up tall. Reach out for others. So when they fall and I will rejoice in My faith. And remember that love is why we're made be the best I can be for world and for me because every day we live our lives some days we let ourselves slide and we forget our

00:42:35.550 - 00:43:43.210

way thankfully it's not too late. I may have done wrong at times and action I will show it's gonna be a brave new year starting right now right here Yeah, I'll be strong and stand up tall reaching for others when they fall and I will rejoice in my faith and remember that love is why we're made be the best I can be for the world and for me

00:43:43.220 - 00:44:41.780

return, return it's gonna be a brave new year and starting right now right here I will be strong and stand up tall and reach out for others. So when they fall I will rejoice in my faith and remember that love is why we're made be the best I can be for the world for me

00:45:07.710 - 00:45:34.600

oh return. Oh and if it's okay with you, I play one more tune. This is uh this is actually off the new album. This is a song called Better Together and it just feels wildly appropriate uh in the time that we're in where we're told we

00:45:34.600 - 00:45:48.650

can't be together. Uh but we have found amazing ways to do so. So this is uh I got invited same community down McAllen Texas. One of the last few times they brought me out. They said why don't you come out and do a song about social

00:45:48.650 - 00:46:01.790

justice. Right. He was like, alright sure. So I started looking up all these social justice songs and there's a million great songs. I was like well I got a big library to pick from. So I did the thing I tend to do when there's a lot

00:46:01.790 - 00:46:32.220

of options that I could take. I tend to just do my own things. I wrote my own song and that's what this was. So this is called Better Together. Well we're better together and we choose where we stand and we hold each other

00:46:32.960 - 00:47:18.460

we're hand in hand we hold the line that we drew in the sand and will make it home safe where it all began. We're better together We choose where we stand we'll hold each other we're hand in hand.We've been living so long in the shade of a life. We want to live we're thinking about how much we take and how much we give. this heart we're feeding is

00:47:19.750 - 00:48:11.170

starving for something real. It's about the good you do not just good you feel well we're better together we choose where we stand, we hold each other we're hand in hand we hold the line we drew in the sand and we'll make it home safe where it all began Yeah we're better together we choose where we stand and we'll hold each we're hand in hand -every day is a choice every life is a voice and it arises

00:48:13.130 - 00:48:46.540

each day with the sun we pick the verse and the chorus and the words we sing it with everyone. We won't stop reaching no matter how high we climb. Uh huh. So many more. They're not free. It's about the good you do not just the good you see. The mountain it smiles on you and me.

00:48:49.760 - 00:49:26.240

Yeah mountain it smiles on you and me. I said that mountain it smiles on you and me because the world was made for you and me. Yeah we're better together and we choose where we stand. Hold each other we're hand in hand we hold the line that we drew in the sand and we'll make

00:49:26.240 - 00:50:13.680

it home safe where it all began. Yeah we're better together we choose where we stand and we'll hold each other hand whoa in hand. We're better together. We choose where we stand and we'll hold each other hand in hand- we hold the line that we drew in the sand and we'll make it home safe. Thanks Joe That

00:50:13.680 - 00:50:34.970

was great. That was great. This is such a treat. So normal times you're on the road. Three weeks you know three weeks out of four or three weekends out of four. And um you know it's may it's May 2020 and we've all been you know home

00:50:34.970 - 00:51:00.710

since March. What was the last gig that you did before? Things shut down? Oh, oh, wow. It was two months ago, but it feels like a lifetime ago. It was two months ago. Um I was with good people, I was up near the Chattanooga area and

00:51:00.720 - 00:51:18.620

Dothan Alabama up in there. I say up in there, everything's up in there, everything is up in there. I mean, down, down from, down from here is you're, you're in the goal. So it's good to be up. It's good to be up. I mean, did you

00:51:18.620 - 00:51:37.050

have any idea that would be your last, you know, in person gig for a while? Oh, not not in the slightest. So I mentioned that we had this new album, this back from Babylon and this, we had a tour planned out for the vast majority of

00:51:37.050 - 00:51:51.060

the year. I'm like I'm talking like I said, like three weekends every month in a different community all around the US, we were going to promote the album. The tour was like, all wrapped around that, we're gonna shoot videos and released them based on songs on

00:51:51.060 - 00:52:09.530

the album. Like, we had a whole thing and, you know, like, anyone who does any kind of work like this at all, that's all been completely stopped. So it's a, it's, yeah, it's been, well, I had no clue, no clue. That was gonna be the last

00:52:09.530 - 00:52:31.840

thing. Yeah, it was, it was to everybody, you know? So how have you been adapting? What do you do to, um, not only stay busy, but continue to promote the album, share music, that's a great, that's a great question. Um, you know, we had, we had,

00:52:31.840 - 00:52:47.060

like, anyone, we had to retool everything, so it sort of delayed a lot that we wanted to do, but now we're we're kind of getting the ball rolling, but from a live performance standpoint, you know, we were doing the Shabbat services all over the place, and

00:52:47.060 - 00:52:59.120

since we couldn't do that, I was like, well, we've built up quite a community around our facebook page, and I thought, well, let me just, you know, get great at going live on there. And so we started putting these weekly services together and we're finding all

00:52:59.120 - 00:53:11.570

these folks who they don't have a service that they go to, or maybe they used to go to services and they don't anymore, and whatnot. And so we've built this community around that and it wouldn't have happened if not for this. And of course, I mean,

00:53:11.570 - 00:53:25.790

I'm still doing gigs for communities and doing a lot of zoom concerts and things like that, but it's not only change the nature of of how we do this for the time being, I think it's it's forced a lot of artists to find new ways to

00:53:25.790 - 00:53:38.880

connect with folks that they can help and that they can do this for, you know, new ways to connect with people through their music, if they weren't on facebook before, they sure are now if they weren't, if they didn't have a zoom account or anything like

00:53:38.880 - 00:54:05.090

that before, they've sure got one. Now I didn't know, I didn't know what zoom was in february, didn't know what it was. Zoom golly Golly was about as close, as close as I got. That was that was a music joke that was for you, Joe Yeah.

00:54:05.100 - 00:54:21.990

And I appreciate that. I was doing that. I was doing the dancer for you, you know, as terrible as terrible as this is and it's been a horrible thing. And you know, as musicians, we found new ways to cope and but there's people who are genuinely

00:54:21.990 - 00:54:37.900

out of work and it's not a great time. It's a horrible time. Um, and as weird as it is to say this, I think if there has been any plus for people who do things creatively, it's it's forced us to come out of our comfort zones

00:54:37.900 - 00:54:50.770

more and find new ways to communicate and new ways to, to reach out and do this and new ways to be of service. Um, for us, one of the things that we've done is we've created a lot of video content for communities because, you know, instead

00:54:50.770 - 00:55:02.830

of people coming to synagogue, it's like the synagogues are going, well, how do we get information out to our folks? And so they need content. So that's another thing that we've found is a an opportunity to be of service. We've been creating a lot of content

00:55:02.830 - 00:55:18.910

for communities to, to use and to share and Torah lessons and you know, music and and all this. So, um it's been it's been a different time, it's been a different time, but it's been good to connect with people differently too. Yeah, I'm sure you miss,

00:55:18.920 - 00:55:35.050

you know, as a speaking as somebody who enjoys, you know, giving lectures and you know, I'm sure you miss that in person reaction that you get from from a live audience from fans, but but but like you said, it's gotta, it's gotta feel rewarding to know

00:55:35.050 - 00:55:51.230

that there are people out there who are who are alone, who are alone in, you know, not only living alone, but who don't have a jewish community that they can tap into and to have found you, you know, on on facebook and to be able to

00:55:51.230 - 00:56:10.300

watch your services, you know, each week. Um you know, hopefully that that that brings you a sense of a sense of, of fulfillment. It really does um in a, in a huge way, I mean, it's, you know, it's kinda gets back to what we were talking

00:56:10.300 - 00:56:23.060

about before, of what do we have to offer, right, what are we doing for folks and that, that that's kind of at the forefront of all this, what does this serve and being able to do that and being able to help guide folks and and, you

00:56:23.060 - 00:56:34.940

know, be a support for them and help provide opportunities for them and and all of that is just, it's been incredibly rewarding. It's been incredible. And and to the point where we've made the commitment to everyone who comes to all those things that look when we

00:56:34.940 - 00:56:47.580

were gonna get back on the road, you know, we're gonna go back to touring and back to doing all of that, but this won't stop. And we're going to constantly find ways to do this better for those folks. So that that's an offering that we've got

00:56:47.580 - 00:56:59.930

for people that can't make it to services or can't do stuff. We're gonna, we're gonna have something there for them every single week. Um I think it's too, it's too important to to not do once. This changes. That's the other thing is, I think people have

00:56:59.930 - 00:57:13.820

found services that can be offered that need to be filled um that maybe they didn't know about before, you know, but because of all this, we're finding those important thing is we don't lose all the good that we've that we've found ways to do during this

00:57:13.820 - 00:57:28.230

time we have to hang on to so that when we go back to any sense of of what things were like before, that we keep that strong because it existed then too. And and we have to continue to take care of it, take care of each

00:57:28.230 - 00:57:44.080

other. So we can find you on facebook, you have a, you have a facebook page, you and you have a website as well. Right? I do yes sir, that's very kind. We have a facebook page. Uh It's just Joe Buchanan music at Joe Buchanan music, you

00:57:44.080 - 00:57:55.780

just look at job, you can, you'll see a guy in a hat. Um And uh it's the same thing as our instagram but our website is Joe Buchanan music dot com and links to all that stuff are are right on there, you can go check it

00:57:55.780 - 00:58:11.380

out, that's great, thank you so much for doing this, I really appreciate it. Can we, can we get one more song? Oh yeah, you wanna you wanna hear something kind of kind of funny, is that alright? Yeah. Alright. A little little upbeat. All right, I'm gonna

00:58:11.380 - 00:58:26.730

play it, I'm gonna play a song about Texas, is that okay? Since we talked about it, this couldn't be more perfect. Okay, good. So in addition to Jewish communities and then I also play, you know, bars and and regular venues and I've got a uh a

00:58:26.730 - 00:58:41.020

little six piece band and um I do the same music in bars as I do in communities on the road. So the message is the same. Um But I've never been to Israel, it's something people ask me all the time. I've never been to Israel, I'm

00:58:41.020 - 00:58:53.730

sure someday I'll go I'm just eight years old this year so you know I'm still young um But but I have been to Texas and I do believe that the holiest place that you can be in, not just that we have a holy land but your

00:58:53.730 - 00:59:05.290

life and where you're standing is holy ground. Cause that's where your choices have led you. That's where your life is happening at the holy thing. Right? So I met God in Texas and so this song is sort of about that. I'm gonna take this ear piece

00:59:05.290 - 00:59:35.390

out again here. All right, here we go. Mhm Yeah, well I've never been to Israel, but I floated the Frio River. They don't make hummus at Neil's, they make a mean chicken down there the mesquite trees and them singing leaves always remind me of

00:59:35.400 - 01:00:30.610

God floating back in tubes feel so darn good that it might get outlawed. Texas is like a holy land to me. It's a place where the heavens feel close where God taught me to see. and if I don't make my way across that sea someday I'll be glad I live in Texas where I first found a reason to pray. pick it up, when I was a

01:00:30.620 - 01:00:51.320

kid, I was trouble born, trouble didn't thought I'd make it to 15. I was such a mess. I struggled and I did my best into getting good was getting pretty lean. I believe God's where you are. We met under that lone star between you and God, there ain't no one between.

01:00:52.610 - 01:01:25.180

So if you're feeling down. Well my friend just come on down to the state where the name means anything but me, it's a place where the heavens feel close to God told me to see If I don't make my way. Don't make my way across that sea someday. I'm glad I

01:01:25.180 - 01:02:05.130

lived in Texas where I first found the reason to pray. I'll be glad. This is where I first found the reason to pray. Now I'll be glad I lived in Texas where I first found the reason to pray. Yeah wow.

01:02:05.140 - 01:02:21.430

Amazing , thank you so much for taking the time to do this. Um what a what a what a what a treat. What a pleasure. This has been great. I want you to stay well stay safe and I'll see you on facebook. Thanks so much. Looking

01:02:21.430 - 01:02:28.750

forward to seeing you. Thanks so much for doing this. You're amazing. You're an absolute delight to spend time with my pleasure. Joe. Well thank you too.