Of Me & JO Vocal/Guitar Duo
By Brandy Centolanza

When Jocelyn Oldham was a little girl, “My mom told me that I used to sing instead of talk,” she says with a smile.  Singing remains her passion to this day, and she is popular among children for her Music Together   With Jocelyn music classes, and among adults, who know her better as a member of Me & JO. The duo plays cover songs frequently to audiences throughout Hampton Roads.
“I see music as a language,” Oldham remarks. “If you grow up speaking the language, it becomes a part of you.”
Music has always been a part of Oldham’s life. As a young child in New Hampshire, her mother introduced her to the guitar, piano, and singing. Oldham eventually taught herself to play the guitar, by reading the notes from the songbooks her mother had lying around the house. She bought her first guitar at age 15, and still uses it today in her music classes. In middle and high school, she played the clarinet, trumpet, and oboe, but it’s when she left for college that her talent for singing fully emerged.
“Singing is my forte,” she says.  “It’s what I’m most confident in and what I believe I’m the best at doing.”
At Virginia Tech, Oldham joined the vocal jazz ensemble, The New Virginians, with encouragement from an older sister.  “The music was really challenging, and it just really made me a better singer,” she recalls. “I started to take voice lessons after that. I always felt I had a pretty voice, and just really learned how to use it.”
After graduating with a degree in music education, Oldham taught for a year in New Hampshire before making her way to Williamsburg in 2001 to be a part of the Music Theatre of Williamsburg. When the theatre closed two years later she and a co-worker, Ted Pollard, joined the local group, The Rythmn Kings, a six-piece horn cover band with Oldham as lead vocalist. Oldham and Pollard later left after a year to form Me & JO.
“We play a lot of popular music from just about every genre,” Oldham says. “We play the Beatles, Gwen Stefani, Joni Mitchell, Dave Matthews, country, jazz.”
Me & JO perform multiple times weekly at various venues, and have regular gigs at the Firkin & Frigate in City Center in Newport News on Wednesdays and at Kincaids at the MacArthur Center in Norfolk on Saturdays. Locally, the duo has played at JM Randall’s, Berret’s, the Merchants Square Farmers Market, and private functions. Eventually, Oldham and her partner want to record a CD.
“She is one of the best singers I have ever worked with,” says her partner, Pollard.  “She is very musical.”
In addition to Me & JO, Oldham teaches music classes to infants, toddlers, and pre-schoolers. Inspired by her sister, she began offering the Music Together With Jocelyn program to children from birth through age five and their parents or caregivers in 2004. The nationally recognized program believes that all children are musical.
“It’s not about teaching music, it’s about experiencing music,” Oldham states.  Currently, 70 children are enrolled in Oldham’s class, which integrates song, instruments, and movement. She often bumps into parents of previous students who say their children still enjoy singing along to her songs.
“It’s really neat when they tell me they are still into the music,” Oldham says.  Carolyn Miller believes the class was a great benefit to her daughter. “She loved singing the songs and we would sing them together in the car, at bedtime, at bath time,”  Miller says. Miller describes Oldham as “extremely talented in many ways. Her musical abilities are amazing. She can pick up any instrument and play it so well. And her singing voice is so beautiful. She has a terrific rapport with children. They flock to her and she is so patient.” Oldham hopes to continue the program, and is looking for a partner to help teach the classes. “I like being an inspiration for the
kids, and bringing music into their lives,” she states. “It’s really great being a role model. I’m like a rock star for the under five crowd here in Williamsburg.” And that suits Oldham just fine. “I love to perform,” she beams. “It’s really satisfying. It’s great to be able to do what I love and get paid for it.”