I have been listening to Josie Field’s debut CD Mercury over the last couple of days since she was first added to the Peak Performances database, and have been very surprised by the chilled-out space that she leads me to.

Josie has become quite a household name in the last two years, with even more and more of us oldies getting to hear of her live, it’s all happening pretty fast. She has got a haunting quality that I really enjoy, her voice low and full with words that actually make sense. And that’s refreshing. Hauntingly fulfilling in a refreshing way!

She has been performing with a full backing back, but also appearing as an acoustic two-piece, with Plum’s Kevin Leicher (er - that’s Kevin behind Elana Afrika & a blushing I…), that has had a number of dealings with us, like the very cool Santam booking we did with Arno Carstens & New Porn jazzing and rocking it up with Gloria Bosman…

Josie, Adrian King and Kevin were the Exec Producers, but I was amazed to see the Kevin also produced, mixed and recording it, while also playing the drum kit, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keys AND doing the programming… Da man sure gets around! (Ok. That’s Kevin behind Elana, myself & Brendan Jury. Told you.)

The first single Every Now And Then went to # 1 on 5fm, and also stayed at the top spot of the Hi5@5 for 7 weeks, while 10 Years hit the # 2 spot on 5fm and was voted to top spot on Hi5@5 3 weeks in a row. Not bad if you ask me! And now the lady is going to be featuring as on-tour support to James Blunt when he tours South Africa in May.

So what can we expect in the future from Josie, after so much success from her first album? “I see myself primarily as a song-writer,” she says, “So for the first album, this was presented in songs that were fairly acoustic. But I have a far bigger range, and over the last few months have been writing more material that covers a greater diversity of sounds and styles. Because I put the emphasis on the actual song writing process, I don’t feel limited by genre or style. So although many may think I am more of an acoustic act because of the first album that really isn’t the case. The new material and my stage act will convince anyone of that.”

Josie has a couple of gigs coming up before she sharpens that which is blunt… ok, I had to say it, and I can definitely recommend that you get down to one of them. Of course, if you can’t be there, then you have to contact us, and get her to come and perform at one of your live events – as Joeblog’s Robert Laing pointed out – even 40-year old cynics are seeing her as a hero!

Josie will be performing @

01 May – The Blues Room, Sandton
17 May – Tanz Café, Bryanston – She’s playing her Blunt set!
24 May - Coca Cola Dome, Northriding – Supporting James Sharp… I mean Blunt!
26 May – Botanical Gardens, Durban – Supporting James again. Or will it be the other way round…? He then comes to Cape Town without her. Date? Didn’t notice.

“I am really enjoying playing the new stuff,” Josie says of playing live gigs, “It’s always a pleasure to play songs that people know and sing along to, but I am also really getting into bringing new ideas to the crowd and seeing how they react.” Well, a James Blunt audience will give her good experience - and it’ll be lekka to hear them singing along with her!

Catch Josie Field live, and then you can jump up and down, sway side-to-side, and wave your arms in the air in reaction to what will be a great show! Here is her track 10 Years… that’s just more than half her age… wow.

(Hehehe - did you see how Elana made me blush?)