Billie Joyce is a highly gifted woman. She’s a singer, a songwriter and a producer and she used all these talents on her debut CD “Love Tone”. Billie Joyce is our guide to a warm, soulful, bluesy rootsworld, which is presented to us with insight and descriptive talents, showing most clearly in her rich and vivid imagery. That’s indeed one of the most intriguing aspects of her songwriting: the skilfull way she lead us into her reflections about love and relationships. All songs are about love. And I love it!!!!
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“Love Tone” - Billie Joyce (G.I.G Records)

“Love Tone” the debut album by Billie Joyce could alternatively be entitled “Life Tone”. The opening two songs of the CD (“Peace” and “What Really Matters”) introduce us to a woman whose heart is firmly intertwined with her demands and expectations from both love and life.

At the beginning of “Peace”, you can hear Billie telling the engineer to “turn it up”. She then proceeds to show you the guidelines that her heart will follow. Not only had you better listen; you want to listen. With powerful vocals, great hooks, and pointed lyrics you know that you’re dealing with a no nonsense woman. If there were any unanswered questions in “Peace”, she fills in the answers with the hard driving “What Really Matters”.

Surprisingly, Billie plays love dangerously close to the edge. She lays down her rules in “Peace” and “What Really Matters”, but then unveils how much she’s willing to break them in “Mad” and “I Surrender”. She drops her guard and displays vulnerability wrapped inside her desires to both share love and be loved mixed in with an ounce of caution and foreboding.

Her transformation from rock songs to ballads is seamless. Although she can sing pop with the best divas, she keeps a bluesy edge in her ballads, never letting love drift aimlessly into a schoolgirl fantasy. Rather, the wonderful melodies and passionate vocals suggest a powerful intimacy that is refreshing and a far stronger attraction for those of us over 21 years old.

To lighten things up a bit, Billie displays a playful side in both “Turn it On” and  “Love Alarm”. Though, “Love Alarm” may be the most erotic jug band song ever written.

As much as she is aware of her own feelings and desires, “Elixir”, “Original Sin”, and “Find it in Yourself” show she is keenly empathetic to the world around her. “Elixir” and “Original Sin” describe the emotions of those struggling with challenging and painful issues that could only be captured so vividly by someone who was somewhat close to these people or circumstances. The first verse of “Original Sin” is stunning. But, the riffs from saxophonist Karl Wingruber lift you and carry you through the rest of the song.

Most writers would have written “Find it in Yourself” in the first person, sharing their own particular version of their personal epiphany. However, Billie is able deliver the same message connecting us to real world characters in real life. All the while she’s right there in the middle, side by side with their and her own personal conflicts and triumphs.

She leaves us with the most beautiful song on the CD “Wind Child” (co-written with Americana hero Walt Wilkins). Billie shares what appears to be an autobiographical account of how she has wound up where she is now. A combination of strife, risks, self-conviction and faith appear to sum how the artist views both love and life.

For those who like their music etched in fantasy, I’d give the CD 2 stars. For the rest of us, who like to reach, touch, and feel the music we listen to, I give it 4 stars

My personal favorite cuts on this CD are “Mad”. “I Surrender”, “Find it in Yourself”, and “Wind Child”. As much as I await the follow up CD, I’m more excited to hear these songs played live and look forward to seeing Billie Joyce in concert sometime soon.


Kevin Ryan
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Soulful, bluesy country with strong alto female vocals ala Terri Clark or Vonda Shepard. The songs are rife with sex appeal and center mostly around love and relationships. But Billie is not without strong opinions, such as her commentary on addiction ("Elixir"), sexual abuse ("Original Sin") and learning to love oneself ("Find It In Yourself").
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