IBT 853 Teamster Steward John Joseph releases new CD

IBT 853 Teamster Steward John Joseph releases new CD
http://www.teamsters853.org/news/2015/JJosephCDRelease.html
What do you get when you cross a hard working shop steward with a singer/ songwriter and throw in a little twang? You get a singing Teamster troubadour!

John Joseph has been a member of Local 853 for 32 years. For all but four of those years, he has represented the Cost Plus stores as a Chief Steward. “I have always enjoyed representing our membership for better pay and fairness in the workplace,” he says. “It has been a personal goal of mine to encourage more participation in our union.” Recently John and another steward have launched a campaign to recruit more women to serve as shop stewards. “They are an underrepresented sector and we want them to feel welcome to leadership roles,” John adds.

Another great passion for John is songwriting and performing. In April, John released his latest CD — Wonders, Worries and Woes — on Lil Red Pony Records. “My songs tell stories about work and love.” Song titles include Almost Gone, Army of One, and Outlaws, Criminals and Thieves. “You can’t go so wrong with subjective and topical songs of work and play,” John says.

The CD took over a year to complete. John says he put lots of consideration into the arrangements, sound quality, and choice of voicing. “I wanted an old timey feel on some it. I also used the best musicians I could find for the genre, such as bluegrass players and a good boogie-woogie piano man.”

John also put a lot of thought into the artwork. “We made the CD cover look like an old-fashioned album cover, with lots of handwork, creative color and lots of footnotes.” He even incorporated the Teamsters logo on the back. “I am very grateful to our union for enabling me to take the time I needed to complete this project without constantly worrying about having enough time off for it.”

You can hear the CD on ITunes and CD Baby, or you can purchase it for $10 from John at johnjoseph1@sbcglobal.net