Hier gibt es ein recht langes Interview mit Joanna, das der Wire mit ihr geführt hat, in dem sie ein wenig über ihren musikalischen Werdegang erzählt, wie es war, im Vorprogramm der Altveteranen der verschrobenen Folkpsychedelia Incredible String Band sowie von Neil Young aufzutreten.
http://www.thewire.co.uk/web/unpublished/joanna_newsom.html
Joanna über ihre Einflüsse (in einem anderen Interview, das es in Gänze hier gibt):
Much of the stuff that I do has been influenced by studying African harp, from Senegal to Mali. It’s much more compressive and not always pretty. It’s rattling, strange, small and complicated, rather than these huge muddy gestures. The harp is capable of much more expressiveness. It doesn’t have to be this sloppy, over the top, dramatic instrument. It can be really delicate and yet abrasive at the right time. I am producing sounds that people are not used to hearing from the harp.
Auf der anderen Seite, trotz dieses starken Interesses für die afrikanischen Spielarten der Harfe, sieht sich Joanna verwurzelt in einer amerikanischen Tradition:
I like American music. I like Appalachian Music and old Blues. I like all the stuff the Lomax Brothers did. I love that music. I am inspired to try to do something that I consider working in those perimeters somehow. I want to make music that somehow connects to the things that I love in America music. I am consciously not trying to bring in World Music elements. The ways that I work and feel are completely different in how they sound than someone playing the Kora in Africa would play it. The rhythm is the same, but the notes that I am playing are really traditional chord patterns and melodies. They are being refracted and broken up in these completely new rhythmic patterns. That’s what I am trying to do. I am not sure if that comes across. I am consciously trying not to make it sound Celtic or African.
Ein weiterer Einfluß war die „Avantgarde“-Musik etwa von Terry Riley und Paulina Oliveros, die Joanna als Kind oft zu hören bekommen hat, lebte sie doch in direkter Nachbarschaft von Riley. Vielleicht könnte das auch einen kleinen Hinweis geben, was auf „Ys“ zu erwarten sein wird.
The community that I grew up in was very musically rich. Terry Riley was our neighbor. There were a lot of composers living in Nevada City. There is a composer’s guild there. Howard Hersh, Terry Riley, and Jay Sydeman and a bunch of new composers all live there. I love Terry Riley. I love a lot of his piano stuff especially. I heard some stuff at my school. He didn’t teach there but he had a strong relationship with my school. He used to give concerts there. I heard some old recordings he did with Paulina Oliveros on Accordion. There was another women on cello. They are very amazing improvised pieces.