Austin-based, Americana-influenced artist Jana Pochop recently released new album The Astronaut, a project impacted first by life on the road, then by Covid times, but now in the hands of the public at last. Pochop has always taken a “do-it-yourself” approach to her work, which helped her “pivot” during these strange times and take her new project into “the great unknown”.
The new album project was initially born in 2019, then shelved due to the hectic (pre-covid) life of a traveling musician, but that wait turned out to be serendipitous as more creative people became available to work on the album with Pochop. New ways to collaborate were placed on the table and Pochop, along with Producer Daniel Barrett, and took this opportunity to Congress House Studio in Austin. With Mark Hallman now on board to engineer, Pochop recorded her own vocals and guitar parts in just two days.
The pandemic allowed Pochop the opportunity to collaborate with her heroes such as Sean Hutchinson of Bleachers, Lloyd Maines, Eliza Gilkyson and Don Dixon (Mary Chapin Carpenter, REM, Gin Blossoms).
Regarding one of the album’s key tracks, “Solar System”, Pochop says:
We’ve all been the brave one, sending our heart out into unknown territory and hoping it is received with open arms. Sometimes, that’s not what happens, and there you sit…in big empty darkness trying to find your way back home, hoping your systems don’t shut down before you do.
