"Teri Joyce is country by any definition."
-- Jerome Clark, rambles.net
"She has one of the most unique and true to traditional country voices I have heard on record in years. It is as if Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn dipped their voices in honey to make one sweet combination ... Am I gushing? Yes, I guess I am. Hell, I am allowed – this is real country, folks."
-- Wade Phillips, Outlaw Magazine
"I've waited a long time for this record, and my unrealistically high expectations have actually been exceeded."
-- Duncan Warwick, Country Music People
"She's about as tall as a shotgun, but she's larger than life behind a microphone."
-- John Conquest, Third Coast Magazine
Teri Joyce sings the songs that built the honky-tonks and writes the songs that will keep them standing. The renowned Texas songwriter's timeless originals have been covered many times over and set the standard for new American roots music -- vintage in style yet accessible to a modern audience. With her band the Tagalongs, Teri delivers her own sizzling brand of classic country-western, western swing, rockabilly, and more. Teri's ball-of-fire stage presence and honest country voice have made fans at home and abroad, with many U.S. and European tours. Teri was 'raised on the kitchen radio', but she also loves to play the hits that should have been, alongside her originals. Though small in stature, Teri Joyce looms like a giant to those who still want to hear REAL country and roots music!
Teri is thrilled to be back in the studio for her new record, It's All For You, set for release in 2022. It's All For You gathers a dozen hand-picked originals and features many of the same honky-tonk heroes found on Teri's acclaimed debut, Kitchen Radio, including Lisa Pankratz, Brad Fordham, Dave Biller, Jim Stringer, T Jarrod Bonta, Brennen Leigh, and Teri's long-time duet partner, Roger Wallace.
Based in Austin, Texas, Teri Joyce grew up in southeastern Virginia. Her parents were born and raised in Central Texas, and there was always plenty of country-western music on the kitchen radio and living room record player: Ray Price, Bob Wills, Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, George Jones, Tammy Wynette ... But that kitchen radio had lots of stations, and as soon as Teri was old enough to really pay attention she became a self-taught student of popular songs and how to write them. With diverse genres to influence her and bring it all together, Teri found it a short trip from the Grand Ole Opry to the Brill Building and back, holding the Great American Songbook close the whole way.
While in her 20s, Joyce "ran away and joined the Army," becoming a U.S. Army journalist. "I think journalism really helped make me a better songwriter," she says. "It taught me the importance of the economy of words and how to say what you want to say in a short amount of space." During her time in the service, Joyce was one of only 30 soldiers selected Army-wide to tour nationally with the prestigious Army Soldier Show. She is very proud to be a veteran and encourages support of veterans' organizations.
Teri moved to Austin in 1990 and continued honing her craft as a songwriter and performer, steadily carving out a place in the local roots scene. In 1996 she joined super showman Ted Roddy in forming the Tearjoint Troubadors, a 'cocktail and western' combo with Teri on rhythm guitar and backup vocals. In 1997 she launched Teri Joyce and the Tagalongs, showcasing Teri's originals and her dynamic duets with Roger Wallace. The band held a three-year residency at the world-famous Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon during Austin's vintage country renaissance.
Meanwhile, other performers were discovering Teri's songs. Marti Brom's 1999 recording of Teri's "Blue Tattoo" remains a turntable treasure loved around the world. In 2010 the Cow Island Music label released Teri's Kitchen Radio, a collection of 14 originals that cemented her reputation as a first-class country and roots songwriter. Europe's number one country music magazine, Country Music People, gave Kitchen Radio five stars. Editor Duncan Warwick said, "I've waited a long time for this record, and my unrealistically high expectations have actually been exceeded."
Teri Joyce has shared a stage with some luminary like-minded performers, including Hank Thompson, Dale Watson, Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel, John Doe and the Sadies, Wayne Hancock, Kelly Willis, the Hot Club of Cowtown, Rosie Flores, the late Austin icon Don Walser, and many more. She was featured in photographer Mathew Sturtevant's lauded 2012 book The Sound of Austin, alongside Willie Nelson, Junior Brown, Jerry Jeff Walker, Charlie Sexton, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and other noted Austinites. Teri's favorite moment in entertainment so far came in 2004, when she sang at an Austin tribute to her favorite songwriter, the iconic Cindy Walker. Miss Walker was in the audience, and according to Teri, "It's sure going to take a lot to top that one!"
Teri has become recognized herself as a skilled producer of special events in Austin, including the beloved 'Hey, Loretta! Hillbilly Hoedown and Pie Social,' a star-studded tribute to country legend Loretta Lynn first presented in 1996, that benefits a local musicians' charity. "I am so honored to continue to work with so many talented folks and to entertain so many others, while being able to give back to this incredible community of ours," says Teri.
Another community to which Teri Joyce belongs is the Last Honky Tonk Music Series, an 'historic roots music series featuring national artists who are committed to bringing authentic and powerful show performances to audiences of all sizes, cultures and creeds'.
Teri has learned the importance of balance in life, so she reserves time for activities outside of music. She is a talented portrait artist, frequent two-stepper, vintage collectibles aficionado, and thrift store junkie; yet, you will just as often find her in the great outdoors, enjoying nature's immeasurable bounties. Teri has insatiable wanderlust and prides herself in finding the best old-school diner in any given area, or the mom-and-pop, clean and safe thirty-dollar motel that everyone swears no longer exists. It's like finding timeless original music, she asserts -- You just have to know where to look!

(Todd Wolfson)