Calling all visual artists!

I have big dreams, and I'm hoping you can help me accomplish them! In October and November I'll be releasing two new EPs (Where the Sidewalk Ends EP and Stones from the River EP) and my eighth full-length album (Color). Along with the usual cover artwork for each EP/album, I'd like to have individual pictures for each song. This is by no means a new idea (check out Ed Sheeran's images for the songs on ÷ for example) but it's new for me, and it's something I'd like to try. I want to do more with my music than ever before, and I think that truly investing in and believing in every song is a great place to start. I also want to create and live the community I say I believe in, and you can't have community alone--that's where you all come in.

I'm looking for drawings, paintings, doodles, photographs, sculptures, crafts, woodworkings, metal workings--any sort of visual you want to create--that can be scanned or photographed and then cropped into a square, digital image. Whatever you create doesn't necessarily need to be a square, the but images used will be square. So if you make a sculpture, for example, plan for there to be a background behind it so the image can be cropped to a square but still show the whole sculpture (unless you only want a portion of it shown). If you make a painting that isn't square, for another example, we can either add background so the whole painting is shown or crop off portions of it, whichever you prefer. Once your artwork is made, either you can photograph/scan/digitize the creation yourself and send it to me, or we can work out a way for you to get the artwork to me.

These images will be used to promote the songs they were created for and will be featured on SoundCloud, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, this website, and any other places I (or you!) think they fit. They might even end up in the physical booklets printed with each album, but I'm still working on that design direction, so no promises. I'll be sure to give you credit each time your piece is displayed (your name and a link to any website/email/social media you want), and I'm working on other forms of compensation, but I don't want to make any promises at this time that I might not be able to keep in the future.

Now the fun part: choosing a song and making your art! Below are links to PDFs of the lyrics for each song that will be on the new EPs/album. I'm still tweaking a few songs, so I'll add those once they are complete. Please feel free to read through the lyrics and then use the form (link below) to let me know which song(s) you'd like to create artwork for. For now you can request for your first, second, and third choices, and I'll assign one song per person based on a first come, first served, top choice basis. (There's been way more interest so far than I thought there would be [!], so we'll start with one song person and scale up if needed.) Once I receive your request, I'll email you with which song is yours. I'll then update this list so people know which songs are already chosen. If reading the lyrics gives you an idea but you want to actually hear the song, check the box and I'll send you a snippet of a demo of the song. There's not a hard and fast deadline, but I'm hoping to release the EPs in mid-October, so sometime in the next two-to-three weeks for the EPs is ideal--but I know you can't rush art, so we'll just go with the flow.

That's a lot of writing. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please use the form (link below), and I'll get back to you. I'm humbled by the interest you all have shown so far, and I'm really excited to see where this goes! Happy creating! - Joe

Where the Sidewalk Ends EP

Where The Sidewalk Ends

You Were the One

Liquor and a Head of Medicine

Hope for All Mankind [already chosen]

When the Embers Fall Down

Stones from the River EP

Queen Annie's Lace [already chosen]

In a Three-Room House (Across the Ocean)

Stones from the River [already chosen]

Dancing

What Remains