In 2009, James Keogh was a promising player in Australia’s Victorian Football League. He also played music, and, taking an alias from a Peter Carey novel he was reading, put himself into rotation in the Melbourne open mic scene as Vance Joy. He released his indie debut EP, God Loves You When You’re Dancing, in March 2013, and by the end of the year, Joy had topped global charts with the catchy, unavoidable hit, “Riptide,” signed a five-album deal with Atlantic Records and caught the ear of Taylor Swift, who put him on her 1989 tour.
Related stories

Second Street Gallery Gallery Rally 2024
Dozens of local artists gather to draw and paint together in the heart of downtown at Gallery Rally 2024. Now in its ninth year, the creative-community-driven event affords art lovers the opportunity to meet artists, talk with them about their work, and witness acts of creation firsthand. Each of the works made during the rally […]
C-VILLE Writers | April 24, 2024
Second Street Gallery Gallery Rally 2024
Dozens of local artists gather to draw and paint together in the heart of downtown at Gallery Rally 2024. Now in its ninth year, the creative-community-driven event affords art lovers the opportunity to meet artists, talk with them about their work, and witness acts of creation firsthand. Each of the works made during the rally […]
C-VILLE Writers | April 24, 2024

Rodrigo y Gabriela
While heavily grounded in the music of their native Mexico City, Grammy Award-winning guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela brings weightier world music to their incendiary stage shows. With influences ranging from flamenco and classic rock, to heavy metal, spiritualism, and philosophy, their albums and live concerts serve as transcendent listening experiences that set both the […]
C-VILLE Writers | April 24, 2024
Rodrigo y Gabriela
While heavily grounded in the music of their native Mexico City, Grammy Award-winning guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela brings weightier world music to their incendiary stage shows. With influences ranging from flamenco and classic rock, to heavy metal, spiritualism, and philosophy, their albums and live concerts serve as transcendent listening experiences that set both the […]
C-VILLE Writers | April 24, 2024

Rockets’ red glare
Alex Garland’s newest film Civil War presents a vision of a war-torn, near-future United States that taps into many Americans’ fears of the worst-case endgame of ever-growing political divisiveness. It’s a promising idea, but this uneven movie is loaded with ridiculous plot holes, and despite delivering several impressive scenes, the film doesn’t maintain its level […]
Justin Humphreys | April 24, 2024
Rockets’ red glare
Alex Garland’s newest film Civil War presents a vision of a war-torn, near-future United States that taps into many Americans’ fears of the worst-case endgame of ever-growing political divisiveness. It’s a promising idea, but this uneven movie is loaded with ridiculous plot holes, and despite delivering several impressive scenes, the film doesn’t maintain its level […]
Justin Humphreys | April 24, 2024