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"She’s an absolute explosion of talent."
-- The Albany Daily Gazette
"Mindy Jostyn is among the most exciting songwriters to emerge in some time; her
ballads reveal a poet’s aim for life’s revealing little moments. Everything is
delivered with sparkling musicality and an emotional voice."
-- The Boston Globe
"Jostyn’s gifts as a writer of dreamy musings, topical essays, and torchy
ballads point to a very promising future."
-- The Washington Post
"Applying her clear, confident soprano and instrumental prowess to a variety of
styles including folk, country, pop and blues, Jostyn proves she’s ready to step out
of her backup role and into the spotlight."
-- The Boston Herald
"Mindy Jostyn writes songs ranging from hilarious to poignant, sings them with
subtle conviction and plays a mean harmonica."
-- Playboy
"The unsuspecting crowd was
blown away by a human bonfire named Mindy Jostyn singing
large, moving beautifully, and plaving brilliantly. Her
songs range from torchy to drop dead funny."
-- Metroland
"Once again, starlight seemed to
stream from Club Passim Friday night. Passers-by sensed
something was up, crouching down more than usual to peek
through the windows of the basement club and see what all
the fuss was about. Club manager and emcee Julie Rioux
evoked the long tradition of star-making at Passim, of
how Nanci Griffith, Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, and many
others had seen their careers ignite there. The energy
crackling in the air before Mindy Jostyn played a note
made it clear that this crowd, packed to the rafters,
came not just to cheer the hot new songwriter but to help
anoint her the official Next Big Thing. Jostyn did not
disappoint. Years of playing fiddle and harmonica behind
Carly Simon, John Mellencamp, and Billy Joel have crisply
honed her dazzling musicianship. But she is almost
militant about not taking herself seriously. Her very
funny, sharply satirical persona is that of affluent
white suburban girl desperately seeking angst. As such,
she can smartly kid herself, today's dour songwriters,
and our vapid pop culture.
"You're not supposed to say
you sing the blues if you're a white girl from the
suburbs," she said, mouth all pouty. "so this
is a complaining song." But her blues harp was
sizzling, her fiddle rhythmically riveting, particularly
on a playfully sexy, grandly over-the-top cover of
Prince's "Kiss."
Dressed like she'd just come from a
very trendy bait shop, she sang hilariously about the
tension of a romance going too smoothly, of her
frustrated attempts at seedy rebellion in her suburban
home on "Cedar Lane." She includes herself in
what she's lampooning, so she never seems sneering or
self-righteous. She sang a snippy anti-ode to "Other
Guy's Girls" and a mock-protest to our greedy
culture, with its deliciously insincere refrain,
"What's so great about power, sex, and money?"
Her few serious songs were
spellbinding, including a tense update of the Cain and
Abel story and a softly devastating cover of Simon's
"That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should
Be," which brought out the ominous uncertainty of
the verses, written by Jostyn's husband, Jacob Brackman.
With her crisp musicality, welcome wit, contagious
melodies - and connections - the question seemed less if
she's going to be a star than what's taking so long?"
-- The Boston Globe, June 2, 1997
"Edgartown - After a night of
sipping champagne, hugging Carly Simon, and offering
birthday toasts to a White House staffer, the president
got a late start yesterday.
Just before noon, Clinton came
jogging down the path from his Oyster Pond vacation home.
Before he turned onto the bicycle
path, he was asked about the bash at the Hot Tin Roof
nightclub he and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
attended the night before.
"It was really nice,"
Clinton said.
Other partygoers say it was even
better, with Carly Simon (sporting a new naval ring)
singing "Anticipation" and musician Mindy
Jostyn stealing the show with fiddling and harmonica
playing, along with her rendition of Patsy Cline's
classic "Walkin' after Midnight."
While Mrs. Clinton toasted birthday
girl Kelly Craighead, some of the more than 200 guests
got a kick out of photographing Clinton holding his
champagne glass and the one belonging to the first lady."
-- The Boston Globe, August 1997, By Ellen O'Brien
"She writes rock and roll with
all the various styles that have ever worked their way
into rock ... works straight from the heart and soul
every note of the way."
-- Music Review Quarterly
"Her debut CD is a kick-butt
album that occupies the narrow interstice where country,
pop, blues, rock and folk come together. And what Jostyn
does with a fiddle and harmonica borders on assault."
-- The Valley Advocate
"She barely had both feet on
the stage when you could feel 'the magic.' I've never
seen anyone light up a room as quickly as Mindy Jostyn."
-- Two River Times
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