A Conversation with Joy Lynn White (continued)

PM: So I know that you're a huge advocate for all kinds of animal issues. We ought to touch on that, because I know today was a hard day for you.

JLW: Yes.

PM: You put a cat down today.

JLW: Yeah. Neville, he was fifteen years old. But I do firmly--I always try to put in print or in my shows, tell people to spay and neuter their cats and dogs, and to report animal cruelty. And also, pets are a huge responsibility. One thing that irks me that I see too much of is people who just get dogs and chain them up in their backyard. And that does serious damage to a dog's spinal cord to do that.

PM: Really?

JLW: Oh, yeah. And not to mention that dogs are pack animals, and they love to be with people, and they love to be with other dogs, so they're isolated. They're stuck back in a backyard. And I wonder why people do that. I mean, I know some ignorant people use them just to bark so they'll know if somebody is coming up on their property. "Buy some locks for your door, okay? Get some frickin' motion detector lights."

PM: Yeah, get an alarm.

JLW: Why take an animal and chain it up for its whole life just to be your alarm. That's what they do. And if they remember to feed it that day, then it might get some food and water. And the fact is, here in Nashville, Tennessee, it gets frickin' cold in the wintertime.

PM: It does, and it's starting already.

JLW: And it gets hot as hell in the summertime. I see dogs chained up with--I'm talking logging chains around trees.

PM: With their tongues hanging out, right.

JLW: Yeah, with no water, but I mean, just a chain like that. And in fenced yards. I see them in fenced yards, chained up.

PM: Right.

JLW: I just--it drives me crazy! But to me, if it's like, "Oh, well, they'll do this to the yard." "Well, then, why do you have a dog? Why don't you get rid of it? Then you'll have your yard." I mean, okay, dog is God spelled backwards. Come on, people!

[laughter]

JLW: I just think it's wrong, and they can't speak out for themselves, so I'm moved to speak for them.

PM: Yeah.

JLW: I mean, isn't it much easier just not to have a dog? You don't have one.

PM: No, right. Because I know that I'm out of town all the time. You can't have a dog, then.

JLW: I've been called a fence jumper. That was a term that I found out at a show I did up in Wisconsin, because I had rescued a dog. I went in and just took him out of the yard. They'd left him there to die, anyway. I mean, his ears were ready to rot off from fly eggs. He was on a big logging chain. And the dog has never been on a chain another day in his life since Peter Hyrka--

PM: The great violinist. [Peter plays with The Gypsy Hombres.]

JLW: Yeah, he took him.

PM: Wow.

JLW: And they love each other. This is an Akita Lab mix. It didn't stand a chance in hell. But yeah, I didn't care if I got arrested, or got shot at, or went to jail. I thought to myself, "Well, what's right here and what's wrong? Doing the right thing, or just turning my head and trying to pretend that I didn't see that?"

PM: Are you what you'd call a spiritual person, too?

JLW: Yes, very spiritual.

PM: In any certain way? Are there certain kind of teachings or spiritual stuff that you like? Is it Christian? Is it Eastern?

JLW: I really don't think that I could say any more that it's any one in particular. I believe in a lot of the Buddhist beliefs, I believe in most of the Bible. I believe in just doing good. I believe that maybe my spiritual thing in life comes through me doing things to help animals. I think because for some reason, somehow I've always had enough money to take care of them--I mean, the ones that I have taken in and found homes for. I don't want a million animals. I'm not that eccentric that I want ten dogs and twenty cats. I have, now, two dogs and one cat because I just had to put my fifteen year-old down today.

But I do have a place where I can foster one for a while, and I'll eventually find it a home. That's what I do. And so for some reason I had money to always patch them back up, because they're always sick, and they always need to be spayed or neutered. I just feel drawn to them, and I can't turn my back on them. People who do other really good causes, like look out for the children, and look out for our old people here, and animals--and I'm talking worldwide. I belong to the Gorilla Foundation, too. And I'm really into us having the elephants in Hohenwald. But I'm not into circuses.

PM: Elephants in Hohenwald, Tennessee?

JLW: Yeah. There's an elephant sanctuary in Hohenwald. [www.elephants.com]

PM: Oh, my God. I don't know about this. Can you go hang out with them?

JLW: You can't go and hang out, but you can sign up and volunteer. They need volunteers all the time, and money.

PM: How many are out there?

JLW: They might have about eight to ten. And they just run free.

PM: Beautiful.

JLW: And they've all come from horrible situations in zoos and circuses. And I just think that the right thing would be for us not to have those types of animals in any sort of captivity, because they were never made to do that. And these countries that are so poor like that, that naturally have the habitat for those animals, I think that some smart people out there, which I don't have the time to do this because of what else I do to try to make money--but I don't understand why things can't be set up for people to go over to these countries and fund them in that way so they can go and see them in their natural habitat instead of a circus. I just think that's cruel. And it's wrong. Almost all of them are mistreated, neglected and abused.

PM: Yeah.

JLW: I mean, I wonder why people don't think about that for their kids. Go buy a book that has a picture, instead of giving to circuses that are doing this. And I mean, it'll probably never go away.

PM: Well, like a lot of things, I think people need to be educated.

JLW: That's exactly it. I didn't know that as a kid.

PM: Right.

JLW: What does a kid know? I mean, it's for the grownups to know that something about this isn't right.

PM: Right. You taught yourself as you got older.

JLW: And I don't think a kid is going to miss out if they didn't get to go to the circus. [laughs] You know?

PM: I know what you mean. Well, Joy, you've been very generous with your time today. I think that it's amazing that after only three weeks your new record has climbed way up the charts, and it looks like you're going to--

JLW: Be able to house a lot more pets. [laughs]

PM: Yeah, for that matter. And also get a whole new shot at doing the thing you do so well.

JLW: You know what I want from this record, Frank? Is just to be able to go out and tour at the level I feel I should be touring at. And a van is fine, just as long as I can go and have a hotel room.

PM: Yeah, and a couple of nice people to play with.

JLW: Yes, and some nice people to play with, and get up and pull off a good show. That's what I want, a touring career again. I've had it years ago, but now I'm doing the kind of music I really want to represent, wholeheartedly. So that's what I want from this record.

[Aside from the several show-shots we've lifted from JLW's website gallery, the photographs of Joy featured with this interview were taken by the inimitable Deone Jahnke. To view more of her very fine images, visit www.deonejahnke.com. And the accompanying painting details are from works by Rothko, Hopper, De Kooning, Van Gogh, Whatmore, Brown, Oropallo, and Osborne. Yes, that's London artist Justine Osborne--check out her contemporary canine portraits (and consider commissioning one!) at www.paintmydog.co.uk.]

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