In support of their new album, “Soul on Fire (Songs for Grown Ups),” Princeton-based The Beagles have a big show coming up on Sept. 6 at the fifth annual RainbowMoon Festival on Sept. 6 at Snipes Farm in Morrisville, Pa. They’ll also play Sept. 13 at Kumo 27 in the Kendall Park section of South Brunswick and Oct. 11 at Lawrenceville Main Street’s Fall Arts Fest. PHOTO BY NICK ROMANENKO
Joy Okoye's powerfully liberating vocals bring an urgent vibe to the musical explorations of Princeton-based The Beagles. In her early years in Kansas, Joy's vocal gifts moved congregants to feel the Holy Spirit -- both as a soloist and with gospel and worship bands.
Moving East, Joy explored new spiritual and secular worlds and found her calling as a dance leader, improvising rhythmic evocations to movement and channeling soothing vocal vibrations. In the JourneyDance community, Joy became the “Evangelist of the Dance Floor,” inspiring flowing throngs into explosions of expression, then bringing them to a soft landing in a healing space.
Beagles founder Rob Freeman saw the potential for Joy to reach a wider audience by merging her wide-ranging vocal artistry into interaction with an improvisational electric and eclectic band. Joy’s spark ignites The Beagles on a journey beyond the harmony hooks, sultry seductions and power pop packaging of their Lon Van Eaton-produced 2018 debut “Bed of Roses” to the passionate point where blues meets blue-eyed soul on the recently released follow-up/departure “Soul on Fire (Songs for Grownups),” the debut of The Beagles with Joy.
The new album charts lessons learned over the course of Joy and Rob's relationship with one another, manifesting music from their empathic bond. In support of it, The Beagles with Joy – also lap steel guitarist John Mazzeo, Hammond organist Jay Posipanko, bassist Da Nickster and drummer David Ross – will headline the fifth annual RainbowMoon Festival on Sept. 6 at Snipes Farm in Morrisville, Pa. Their set will include a special DiscoFunk Machine set that taps into Joy’s dance roots, as will be the case on Sept. 13 at Kumo 27 in the Kendall Park section of South Brunswick. The Beagles with Joy also will play Oct. 11 at Lawrenceville Main Street’s Fall Arts Fest.
Enjoy the following interview with Rob & Joy:
When and how did Joy come to join The Beagles?
Rob: Joy first sat in with The Beagles for the first time at the 2018 album release concert for ‘Bed of Roses.’ She started making regular guest appearances, and when she and I started dating and writing music together, it grew organically into her becoming our full-time lead vocalist.
Joy: At first, I really couldn't believe I was singing with a band. I'd fantasized about it singing into a hairbrush when I was a kid, and now it was happening!
Why did The Beagles change their name to The Beagles with Joy?
Rob: With Joy joining the band, we realized she had a significant fan base of her own, and we wanted to be recognizable to them as well. Also, I liked adding ‘with Joy’ to ‘The Beagles’ as a turn of phrase that brought to mind Snoopy levitating doing his happy dance -- the way Joy makes me feel.
Joy: I’ve spent years building a community through movement, yoga, sound healing, and writing. Joining this band opened up a whole new layer of my story. I wanted to invite my community to see this other side of me — the musician, the performer — and to merge that with what Rob and The Beagles had built. The Beagles with Joy just made sense. It’s where our two worlds meet and become something bigger than either of us on our own.
The musical partnership between Rob Freeman and Joy Okoye turned into a life partnership. PHOTO BY JOY OKOYE & ROB FREEMAN
So ‘Soul on Fire (Love Songs For Grown Ups)’ is considered The Beagles with Joy’s debut album despite The Beagles’ 2018 LP, ‘Bed of Roses’?
Rob: Yes, we see this as the beginning of a very different chapter and genre of music with Joy's more soulful-bluesy style of singing and her contributions to the writing.
Joy: The idea hit me one day while I was listening to rough cuts of ‘We’re All Alone’ and ‘Love You Enough.’ I was like, ‘wait … these songs are deep.’ They’re talking about the stuff that real, seasoned relationships go through. And I just blurted out, ‘OMG, Rob — we’ve made an album of Love Songs for Grownups.’ We both cracked up, but then we were like … actually, that’s perfect.
While The Beagles with Joy recently released their first album together, “Soul on Fire (Love Songs for Grown Ups),” a previous incarnation of the band simply called The Beagles released “Bed of Roses” in 2018. PHOTO BY NICK ROMANENKO AND SKYLER FREEMAN/ARTWORK BY JOY OKOYE
What does the band like most about ‘Soul on Fire (Love Songs For Grown Ups)’ and why?
Joy: Honestly, it’s hard to pick just one track. I’m tied to all of them. Every song has its own story. But the title track, ‘Soul on Fire,’ that’s where Rob and I really meet. We don’t always love the same music — he’s more rock and folk, I’m more modern soul and R&B — but funk and old soul? That’s our sweet spot. And ‘Soul on Fire’ lives right there.
It also came out of this dream I shared with Rob about starting Soulfire Sanctuary — this healing space I’m building for soulful gatherings, movement, and deep inner work. So, for me, it’s all connected — the music, the mission, the name.
Rob: I love how the songs on the album give an opportunity for individualized expression by all of the musicians and for interaction between them, especially on our final piece, ‘Free,’ which we improvised live in the studio, as we do during that segment in each of our concerts. But even beyond that track, it was rare that I told any of the musicians what to play. I just had them do their best and then picked out the best of their best. For “Soul On Fire” – the one Joy talked about – to me it’s the soul-bearing bridge in the middle that’s the lyrical heart of it, but the rest is good funky fun for sure. And ‘The Wisest Flower’ has some great life lessons in it that came through me more than from me.
As Joy was saying, we also love how the lyrics portray so many sides of our relationship dynamic, especially the usage of archetypal imagery in the bridges in ‘Were All Alone’ and throughout ‘Becoming Fire,’ which tells a tale of a heroine’s journey. If I had to pick the one song on the album that’s closest to my heart, it’s that one, so it’s no coincidence it’s the one I sing most of. Joy wrote a poem called ‘Becoming.’ I asked if I could set it to music, but she declined as she had other plans for it. So, then I asked if I could set to music the feelings I had reading her poem – and that’s where ‘Becoming Fire’ came from. I stayed up all night writing verses and texting them to her every 15 to 20 minutes, I think there were over 18 verses in total, with the music still only in my head. Then in the morning, I edited them down and picked up the guitar and sang them – and that’s where it came from. So that’s the core journey for me: from ‘Soul On Fire’ to ‘Becoming Fire’ with a few scenic stops and some passionate overnights along the way.
Did Joy joining The Beagles make it a better band? Why?
Rob: It really does, even beyond her riveting vocals, because she challenges me on every detail, and pushes all of us to go beyond what we might have otherwise been satisfied with. She can't always put it into words, and sometimes dances and vocalizes to communicate things she has no idea about and gets cranky and won’t let up. So, yes, Joy makes the band better because of all of that.
Joy: The band has made me a much better singer too, as I've really had to learn what musicians do and to think like a musician — not just singing into a mic and expressing myself.
Besides Rob Freeman, are there any members of The Beagles still in The Beagles with Joy?
Rob: David Ross has been alongside me as The Beagles drummer for nearly a decade. Jay Posipanko handled most of the keys on ‘Bed of Roses,’ and his playing became so integral to our music that we made him a full member. Sax man Steve Wolpert, who started The Beagles with me as a duo in 2013, continues to be involved as a regular guest, as does bassist Chris Clark, who even has a writing credit on our improvised track, ‘Free,’ on our new release. So, it’s really been an evolution more than a sharp change, and we include everyone in our DiscoFunk Machine.
How did the original Beagles still in the band begin playing with each other?
Rob: The Beagles started as a duo I formed with Steve Wolpert after we met at a jam session hosted by an auto mechanic we both used. We met everyone else in the original band through mutual involvement with the Einstein Alley Musicians Collaborative, a Princeton-based organization I was invited to co-lead in 2015.
How did the July 27 record release party at Hinds Plaza go?
Rob: It was a beautiful and meaningful event. We had a great crowd, played one of our best sets yet, and the response was really warm and enthusiastic. We moved the show indoors to the adjacent Princeton Public Library Community Room due to a forecast of rain, which was real nice as our fans followed us inside, and the library have been such steady supporters of us over the years. We have done a bunch of expanded-lineup concerts in association with the Princeton Library, including tributes to Motown, Woodstock, Janis Joplin, Springsteen and ‘Beagles Do Beatles.’ Steve and I first met the Einstein Alley Musicians there, so it felt so fitting to bring it all full circle.
Joy: For me, it was deeply personal. I raised my kids in Princeton and spent years in their children’s room on the third floor. And that was the place I first saw Rob sing in 2018. Coming back to sing right in the heart of town, after everything life’s thrown my way, felt like a quiet kind of reclamation. We also got to give away a physical CD cover I designed at the show -- a rarity in this age of streaming -- and a piece of writing I published on Substack about ‘The House Of The Rising Sun’ -- the one cover on our album -- means to me.
What is the fifth annual RainbowMoon festival on Sept. 6 at Snipes Farm in Morrisville, Pa., and what is Joy’s and the band’s roles in it?
Joy: I co-founded the RainbowMoon Festival along with Glenmoore Farm, during COVID in 2021 and assumed sole leadership in year four, when we moved away from the Glenmoore site. RainbowMoon Festival is an annual indoor-outdoor celebration of local music, art, movement, and healing arts, bringing together the best of our grassroots creative and wellness communities. It's now being held at Snipes Farm in Morrisville, Pa., where it features two live music stages, roving performers, yoga, dance, wellness workshops, nature explorations, children’s activities, and magical moments of surprise and delight. With food trucks, unique vendors, and interactive experiences, RainbowMoon is a day fest of connection, creativity, and community for all ages.
Rob: I help out with the fest as I can, particularly from the perspective of musical logistics, and our band has been one of the Main Stage acts each year, along with a wide range of vibrant local performers, this year including Gypsy Funk Squad and Gaia Raga.
What is the DiscoFunk Machine?
Rob: We formed the DiscoFunk Machine when we got a call to help celebrate ’70s dance music as a centerpiece of Princeton’s Pride Month celebration this past June, much like we have worked on tribute shows in the past sponsored by Princeton Arts institutions, like McCarter Theatre and Arts Council of Princeton. It created a great opportunity to work with a horn section and many of our musical friends from other bands and to continue to involve our ghosts of Beagles past.
Joy: I’ve always loved old-school funk and R&B and have been wanting to take the band in this direction. Also, this created a great opportunity for me to get down with some of our favorite local soul singers, like Olive Joseph, Catrice Joseph-Dean and, joining us for our upcoming shows, Evelyn Counts.
Rob: This has also been a great musical education for us, learning the intricacies of new musical styles. And the folks that played on these tracks were monsters. It’s pushing me to evolve both my approach to lead guitar and to learn to function more as part of a rhythm section. We’ve also incorporated these lessons and players in tracks on our album, like our title track, ‘Soul On Fire,’ and ‘Tasting Teardrops,’ which include our DiscoFunk Machine Horns.
What other shows and plans do The Beagles with Joy have coming up?
Upcoming shows include two for which we are joined by our DiscoFunk Machine: the Sept 6 RainbowMoon Festival at Snipes Farm in Morrisville, Pa., and then Sept 13 at Kumo 27 in Kendall Park. Then on Oct. 11, The Beagles with Joy will appear at Lawrenceville Main Street’s Fall Arts Fest. We have also already started work on our next album, tentatively titled ‘Simple Things,’ which we plan to release in the summer of 2026.
Is there anything I didn’t ask on which you would like to comment?
Rob: We’d really like to express our gratitude to all the folks who have helped us along our journey. The late John Pfeiffer, who did such a beautiful and insightful review of ‘Bed of Roses’ for his Shore World column in The Aquarian, as well as other great music journalists and radio personalities like Danny Coleman of Rock On Radio and Andy Kin of WDVR, as well as thanking you for your support, Bob. And the members of the Lawrenceville and Princeton communities and Einstein Alley Musicians Collaborative who come out to see us at so many shows and stream our tracks on services like Spotify. Being part of a community is really what makes music making meaningful as something bigger than ourselves.
Bob Makin has produced Makin Waves since 1988. Follow Makin Waves on Facebook and contact Bob at makinwaves64@yahoo.com.
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