Meet Gambit’s 40 Under 40 class of 2024

Joy Clark, 39

Singer-songwriter

Joy Clark has had many milestone moments the last few years, like touring with Americana artist Allison Russell, signing to Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records and paying tribute to Tracy Chapman at the International Folk Awards. And the singer-songwriter is preparing to release her first full-length album, “Tell It To the Wind,” in October.

It’s been a real time of personal growth, she says.

This “period of transition is sort of coming to peace with the disparate parts of myself,” Clark says, “so my Christian upbringing, my queerness, and coming to peace with those things, bringing it together and presenting Joy Clark’s artistry.”

Born in Harvey and the daughter of a minister, Clark grew up with music at church. She learned to play guitar at an early age, finding influences in artists like Tracy Chapman and Lalah Hathaway, and started writing and performing at open mics while at the University of New Orleans. Over the years, she’s performed with Soulkestra, Cyril Neville, pianist Lilli Lewis and many others. She’s also led her own band local venues, on tour and at French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest.

Clark, a queer Black woman, is among a growing number of Black musicians re-claiming the Americana genre, like Lewis, Russell, Lizzie No and Joy Oladokun.

“When I really got onto the scene, there were a lot of Black artists, women, who really took me in, because I was coming into my queerness, and there was a community there that allowed me to see what was possible,” Clark says. “I want to continue to be that for somebody that’s coming behind me, or somebody who isn’t out yet and is feeling like, ‘She’s integrating all these parts of her life, and the world has opened up.’” — Jake Clapp