Vibes and Verses with Bob Johnson and Julie Derrick

Second Saturday Magazine Vibes and Verses Podcast: Bob Johnson and Singer-Songwriter Julie Derrick host singer songwriter sessions recorded at the Folk Alliance International Montreal in February of 2025. Melisande and Spenser LaJoye join this session. Mélisande is a singer-musician based in Beloeil (QC). After releasing four [électrotrad] albums since 2014, she revisits her repertoire with an acoustic quintet on the album Rembobine in 2024. In March 2025, she releases the original [électrotrad] song Francos d'Amérique (feat. Jacobus), first single of an upcoming album with special guests. The success of her discography, hailed by critics and rewarded by numerous awards and nominations allowed her to present over 325 concerts worldwide. With an infectious energy and stage presence, she makes the crowd sing and dance wherever she goes. Spenser LaJoye is a coast-to-coast singer/songwriter with Midwest roots, a classically-trained violinist with a proclivity for Broadway vocals, and a student of Americana music with a theology degree hanging in their studio. They’ve been writing and touring their own autobiographical folk/pop music for over a decade, but the virality of their 2021 anthem “Plowshare Prayer” secured them a permanent place in hearts and households across the world, as well as a peculiar career as a veracious songsmith with an unshakeable pastoral presence.