By Julia Watt, LSWA Creative Mentor
Singer/songwriter Joe Reilly opened his performance at LSWA’s final All-Community Meeting of 2024 by reminiscing on his own time as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. He remembered, “In this very residence hall, as a freshman, I brought my mom’s guitar to school with me. I was too afraid to sing in front of anybody, but I really wanted to.” He spoke about how special it was to share his music with students in the same building where he first started finding his voice as a musician.
Reilly was the final feature in LSWA’s Arts and Sustainability Speaker Series, which was partially funded by the LSA Year of Sustainability Incentives and Innovations Fund. He writes music for all ages about social justice and communal well-being, which specifically centers indigenous concepts of land stewardship, mutual aid, and self-care during contentious times. These themes were especially salient for his visit to LSWA because it fell shortly after the 2024 election – a disquieting moment for many. He kept this in mind as he talked with students between his gentle performances of emotionally moving songs.
The first of these songs was “Infinite Hearts - Decolonization Mix,” a piece Reilly wrote shortly after graduating from U-M and then wrote new lyrics for during Trump's first term. He began the performance by improvising: “We’ve been knocked out of balance before. We’ve got community, our songs, our prayers, our dances, our inner wisdom.” Throughout the song, he talked about using writing, singing, and speaking as tools of resistance. Reilly specifically called out the need to fight against white supremacy, saying “It has blurred our connections with each other and with the world. We are steeped in it. And that needs to transform.” Referencing the Native American healing and activism that has developed in response to social injustices, as well as his own experiences as an Indigenous person, he emphasized the importance of “using your body and your voice in a nonviolent way to make change.”
The second song Reilly performed, “You Belong,” was from his repertoire of children’s music. It’s a singalong piece focusing on indigenous teachings about our relationship with the world around us – that all things on the planet, even those that aren’t living, are both interconnected and autonomous. As he sang, he promoted this sense of connection by encouraging everyone to “Turn to your neighbor and tell them they are loved! Tell them they are important!”
Reilly ended his set with a song requested by one of the LSWA students in the audience – “Little Tomato.” This playful piece is a conversation between a grape tomato and the person about to consume it. The tomato sings in a cute falsetto about how the combination of compost, rain, and sun made it grow full of nutrients and, as the person learns more about the energy it takes to produce their food, they grow even more grateful for the tomato and the nourishment it will provide them. The piece also included audience participation — students joined in on different percussive and melodic lines representing the components of the tomato’s growth.
Following his musical performance, Reilly answered questions from students and talked about what his life has looked like as a professional creative. He acknowledged the difficulty of continuing to find joy in creativity when it becomes a primary source of income, emphasizing the importance of not letting capitalism dull the flame of artistic passion. Urging students to persevere in their creative journeys, he ended with a powerful call to everyone in the room: “Nobody else is going to make the music or art that you make,” he said, “If you’re looking to do something connected to your heart, your voice is important. Use it.”
