Joy Ike in Washington

Music aficianados should be glad that Joy Ike has made Washington a "tour stop" the past two years, performing at the Main Street Farmers' Market.

Her visit Thursday coincided with the mercury shooting upward (do they even put mercury in thermometers anymore?), creating less-than-ideal conditions for playing music. But as Joy mentioned, it was better than playing in the rain!

Joy's set featured numerous songs from "Good Morning," her first full-length CD, which is scheduled to be out later this month. A CD release party is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 28, at the EastSide Borders and will feature a full band.

In Washington, she performed with her piano and her exceptional voice, which was fine with those who were listening. Often, there are requests for musicians to "turn it down" during the farmers' market; while I was out in the heat shooting video, I didn't hear anything of the sort during Joy's show.

Here's some biographical information about Joy:

The 24-year-old has been writing and performing only snce 2005, but already she has received acclaim from local and national media alike. She was voted second for "Best Solo Artist" by the Pittsburgh City Paper in 2007 and was featured on Allhiphop.com's "Alternatives" as "one of the artists [who] will ultimately be responsible for placing Pittsburgh's music scene firmly on the map.

Ike's music has earned a reputation for being lyrically challenging, addressing issues of social awareness, faith, loneliness and the complexity of relationships. "Good Morning" is an anthem to all four concepts and specifically tackles our human need for dependency and the growing obligation to realize that the world is bigger than our own individual problems.

Joy says: "This CD is especially good for Monday mornings. If you can't seem to wake up, just stick it in your player and turn it up. No coffee necessary!

I'll be giving "Good Morning" a good listen and let you know more about it. In the meantime, check out the video of Joy performing "Hey, Where Are the Kids?" at the farmer's market. We posted her playing this song last summer, but we've improved our equipment since then. I patched directly into the mixer, and I think the audio conveys Joy's voice particularly well.

Also, see her perform "City Lights."