Photo by Gardenia Miramontes
For over a decade, the Closner sisters (Natalie, Meegan, and Allie), collectively known as Joseph, were a tight recording and touring unit, defined by a rich, melodic folk-pop blend. Their voices were the band’s primary instrument; whether singing alone or in unison, the result was something beautiful, passionate, and genuinely enchanting. After four albums and countless tours, Allie made the difficult decision that her time as a musician had come to an end. With mutual blessings, Allie cheering on her sisters’ future while Natalie and Meegan embraced the change, the trio officially became a duo in 2024.
It’s easy to imagine how losing a member, especially a sister (Meegan and Allie are twins), might take the wind out of a band’s sails. For years, Allie was the consistent tie-breaker and a foundational creative voice. Now, Natalie and Meegan find themselves in an entirely new landscape. While Meegan is clear that Allie never held the band back, this transition has provided a natural opportunity to start a new chapter in the Joseph story.
With the release of Closer to Happy, fans are introduced to a duo that feels both fresh and familiar. While Allie’s vocals are missed, they don’t leave a void; instead, the tracks radiate excitement and joy rather than sorrow. As Allie explores life beyond the stage as the band’s biggest cheerleader, Natalie and Meegan are leaning into their new identity. Shortly before the album’s release, Meegan joined me to discuss taking this leap forward, the challenges of a music industry in flux, and the strategy behind releasing singles.
Can you walk through the timeline of the album? Was it already started when Allie left?
MEEGAN: When Allie announced she was leaving, we knew that was happening two Decembers ago. We told everybody last fall. We started working on the album, writing for it, the beginning of 2024, which is so crazy. It’s hard to hold all the dates in your head because we’ve been in it for so long now at this point. I think we finished the album maybe at the start of this year.
Was Allie involved in any of the writing?
MEEGAN: No. The only involvement she had was we would send her songs when we were done, and she was just like, “this is amazing.” But that’s it.
Is it sort of exciting to be working as a duo, or does it feel like a lot more pressure and heavier responsibilities? Does it feel like you’ve got this new voice now?
MEEGAN: Yeah, I think so. We were in the band as the three of us for twelve years total, and there’s a lot that goes on in those twelve years—being sisters and family. I think there’s always a level of, “is this what we still want to be doing? Is everyone still in this?” Allie and I both have always had other dreams that we’ve thought of doing, and Natalie has always just been like, “just music, that’s all I want to do.” Allie and I have been more in and out sometimes.
When she decided to leave the band, it did feel very freeing, because it was just a moment of, “oh, you know what you want to do, and now we can all decide our next moment in this knowing.” It’s not the question anymore; we have a final answer. Natalie and I had a big moment where we were like, “okay, do we want to be done as well, or do we want to keep going?” Both of us wanted to keep going. It’s been a really big transition—freeing in the way that we get to start something new. It’s a lot of work as the responsibility shifts to just two people, but that has also been good. With three people, it can be like, “someone might answer that email.” With two people, it really is just like, “well, it’s me or you.” That has shifted the responsibility and the work in a really good way, even though it is a lot more.
You said you’ve got some other non-music hopes and dreams. Is there a point where you say the band has done everything I want it to do, or it’s hit a point where it’s time for the next chapter?
MEEGAN: Good question. I don’t know if there’s a specific thing. Obviously, there’s the financial aspect of it—is this sustainable? We’ve been doing it full-time for ten to twelve years or so. It’s a lot of work and it’s a lot on your body and your mental state to be traveling and away from home. At the level that we are, we still are slogging it out. We don’t have a lot of the comforts that might come with the next level, like being in a bus all the time. For us, it’s more important to save the money, so we’re in a van, we’re driving ourselves. There are different things that are very physical about the job that make me feel weary. We always have a moment after every album where we assess if we still want to do this. As of now, absolutely, we’re still in. We have a whole album to promote.
I’m certainly not advocating that you stop, but a lot of bands that I grew up listening to in the 90s and early 2000s stopped. And now they’re coming back and seeing almost more success than they saw before. You don’t know what you got till it’s gone, and then it comes back and these bands are selling out shows. You can always come back in ten years playing for a bigger crowd.
MEEGAN: Absolutely. We’ve talked, too, about making albums and touring a lot less. Who knows?
Are you touring differently than you did five or ten years ago?
MEEGAN: Yes and no. The ways that we were doing it differently is we’re doing shorter stints. We’re doing two weeks out, and then three weeks home. That’s kind of the max that both of us want to do now. We used to be minimum four weeks, and then the longest we ever did was three months, and that was way too much. Now, you get out there too long and it’s just too hard.
In the last three years, I’ve seen younger bands touring eight months this year in a row.
MEEGAN: We used to do that. I think that’s definitely when you’re starting out and making yourself known, trying to get yourself in front of as many people as you can. I suppose we could do that, but I don’t think we could physically or mentally do that anymore.
I saw that you just got done with an interesting tour where you played at small, non-venue, businesses across the country.
MEEGAN: Exactly. We reached out to our audience and said, “who owns a small business, and would you like to host a show?” Starting as the duo, we really wanted to go back to our roots. We started our whole band doing house shows. We basically reached out to our whole audience and said, “who wants to host a house show?” We started out this new phase having done that in small businesses. We played anywhere from 25 to 100 people in a room across the whole country. It was really special. We sang a full set, and most of it was new songs—previewing new songs that aren’t out yet and singing the singles that are. It was so good to start this cycle out like that.
I went to a club last night and saw bands in a traditional sense, but I love when there’s something different and unique and special about a show. Those become more memorable.
MEEGAN: Definitely. It was really good for people and great for us; it was so fun. It was great to get to talk to people where usually we wouldn’t really have the access to hang out with people like that.
I read that you worked with different songwriters for this record. Have you always done that, or was this a new approach?
MEEGAN: We’ve kind of always done that. We do a writing camp, essentially, where we might go to LA or Nashville and write with friends. With this album, we wrote a lot of the songs with the person who ended up producing it, Luke Niccoli. We just hung out for five days and it was such a flow; we wrote so many songs in five days.
So it wasn’t a shuffling in and out of different songwriters that you didn’t know?
MEEGAN: This time, not as much. In the early days with our album I’m Alone, No You’re Not, we wrote mostly with people we’d never met, where you just go in a room and you’re like, “here’s my feelings.” That was the first time we’d ever done that, but now we mostly have the writers we know that we love writing with and who we feel we have a flow with.
There’s somebody that you worked with recently, Jason from Michigander. Sweetest guy in the world. He said on his podcast that he worked with a songwriter who pitched a song that didn’t work for the Michigander record, and it ended up being recorded by the band Coin. From those early days working with other people, are there any songs that were pitched to you that you didn’t take that you’ve heard other places?
MEEGAN: I’m thinking of one specifically that just released, actually. It was a co-write with Jillian Jacqueline, who’s a country artist. The song is called “China Shop.” We wrote that intending for it to be for us, and then we were like, “I don’t really think this would fit in with ours.” Her voice sounded so beautiful on it and it was more her story—it ended up being more about her dad and their relationship. That one just came out and it’s really beautiful. I think that might be the only one.
How did the thing with Jason happen?
MEEGAN: We love his music and have loved it for a while. We reached out one time when we were going to Nashville and just said we’d love to meet and hang out, so we got breakfast together. Then he messaged and asked if we would sing on his song.
You guys didn’t do it in the studio together?
MEEGAN: We ended up being in Nashville for another trip, so we went back into the studio where he recorded the whole album. We put a new second verse and different harmonies on that in the studio. He was there; it was really fun.
It’s funny when you talked about driving yourselves and how you haven’t hit that next level yet. What is the next level for you?
MEEGAN: Everyone has different goals. We’ve had so many moments of, “we made it.” We have made it in every way and I’m so grateful. It’s not a disappointment, other than just having thoughts of how it could grow or how it might not. The music industry specifically can be like the lottery, where at any moment something life-changing could happen, or we’re just doing the slower growing. It would be amazing if we were across the country playing 2,000-cap rooms. But it’s harder after COVID. Less people are buying tickets to shows, which is so understandable. Right now with the economy, people are afraid to spend money in general. There’s that rub post-COVID where the music industry is very different.
The way the labels sell it is: “well, you make money touring.” But to your point, you don’t really make the money touring. I talked to two bands who basically said, “we’re a clothing company. We sell clothes at our shows and then we actually play music while we sell our shirts.” The model just seems crazy. I don’t know how you make money on the road these days. I’m afraid of you or anybody at some point saying it’s not sustainable anymore.
MEEGAN: Every musician I know is struggling in that way of not knowing how to make the budget make sense. Everything’s so expensive. But we all love it and we believe in it, so that’s why we keep going. It’s hard when the belief and love for it meets the practicality and the financial aspect, but for those that are still going, there’s just a lot of belief. We keep trying to crunch the numbers.
Speaking of songwriting with others, I interviewed Becca Mancari a couple years ago. Tell me about that relationship. I know she opened a tour for you—is that how you met?
MEEGAN: I believe it was originally through our manager, Kevin, who introduced us. They opened up for us on tour and then we all just became very good friends. We’ve kept in touch throughout the years and then they toured again on Allie’s finale tour. They agreed to write a song with us called “I Believe in Myself.” They sang on it as well, which is really special.
I was watching some live studio videos you put out and I recognized the drummer, April Lee. She plays in Becca’s band.
MEEGAN: April’s amazing, and she’s been working with a lot of people recently. She most recently was playing with Hemlocke Springs, and they were opening for Chappell Roan. April’s a star.
I’m old enough that I appreciate a full album experience. I go start to end. I don’t make playlists; I don’t like to bounce around. What I appreciate about the new record is—and I don’t know how much consideration you put to sequencing—but no matter what side you started on, it’s strong. How easy or tough is sequencing?
MEEGAN: Oh, it’s so hard. For probably every album we’ve had, we have so many different versions. Then we boil it down to maybe three, and then two. It really can change the whole experience. We had a very different sequence for our album Good Luck Kid that told a very different story at first. It was very specific and felt like we were trying to get this very specific message across which we hadn’t even intended, necessarily. We ended up changing it because it was almost too on the nose. People are going to pigeonhole the record into a certain thing if we sequence it like that. Then there’s always the labels saying the singles have to be either at the front or the back. Sometimes we don’t feel they should be there. There are so many voices in it, and usually we end up just having to do a happy medium between everyone so the singles are in the right place, but the album has the arc that you want it to.
Vinyl was probably starting to come back when you started, but not nearly what it is today. Does that make you think differently?
MEEGAN: Definitely. Knowing that there are two physical sides to a thing really does change things. It’s funny, this time we are only making vinyl, although we have some big CD lovers that are like, “please make CDs!” I think we are going to make some, but our team was like, “let’s not waste the money,” because we end up with so many leftovers and it’s hard to sell.
I’ve had conversations with other bands about merchandise. As a 54-year-old going to shows where the crowd is mainly 25, I look at the stuff and think, “I would never buy that shirt.” Do you have to consider that when you’re coming up with merch—having a basic logo shirt versus something crazy that might not sell?
MEEGAN: That is a good thought. We’re finalizing our designs right now for the new album, and you have to consider so many things. That is honestly not one I thought about for this run, so I’m glad you said that.
You don’t want to end up with boxes of CDs that don’t sell, and you don’t want to end up with a tie-dye quarter-sleeve that you like, but isn’t going to sell.
MEEGAN: Exactly. There are so many things to consider. It’s funny, my printers just texted me—that is very serendipitous. They’re like, “hello, where are the designs?”
The song “Good Luck Kid” from the 2019 album by the same name is a song that, every time I listened, I had to listen twice in a row. It’s so good. On this album, I think “Looking Back” might be that song for me. What can you tell me about that song?
MEEGAN: We wrote that one with Luke. It started out in the morning while we were drinking coffee. Luke and Natalie wrote that one mostly; I’m the one singing it, but they primarily wrote the whole thing. It happened very fast. Sometimes when you start writing a song, it’s fueled by a certain story and then it becomes something else. That song became about the feeling of finding yourself in a community—sometimes it’s people’s families or organizations—where you feel like everyone is doing the same dance and acting a certain way. You think, “I’m so wrong for looking different or feeling not the same.” It’s about how you don’t just do what’s comfortable to make yourself feel safe, but really listen to your own intuition and say, “Who am I?” Maybe I’m not wrong for being different, I’m just me.
Fantastic message. Something you said is interesting regarding the coffee. Colin Hay from Men at Work once talked about the time of day of recording. He said his voice sounds different when he wakes up compared to 11:00 PM. Do you experience that as well?
MEEGAN: Definitely. Just the natural progression of your voice warming up throughout the day makes a difference. It’s way tighter and smaller in the mornings, but sometimes that’s great. We recorded some of our softer songs, like “Morning Forest,” “Chills,” and “I Can Feel My Own Hands,” in the morning when it’s softer. Some of the bigger moments definitely happen later in the day when you have more of that juice.
You’ve got dates coming up in 2026. Do you forecast out what the whole year is going to look like?
MEEGAN: We’re still waiting. We usually do know what our whole year looks like, but because it’s such a new thing being the two of us, we’re just seeing how it goes.
You recorded in Nashville and LA, but you grew up in Oregon. Are you still there?
MEEGAN: I live in Oregon; I love it here. Natalie lives down in LA.
Last time you were in Columbus, you opened for The Shins. How was that tour?
MEEGAN: I think they told us they only tour every five years now, so they hadn’t been on the road for a really long time. I remember some of them having mixed feelings, like it being nerve-wracking to play shows again, but also loving that version of themselves as a person that plays music. It was really fun and a very good mix for the audiences.
With the album being finished so long ago, where do you sit right now? Are you excited for it to come out, or are you already writing the next record?
MEEGAN: I’m excited for it to come out. We originally thought this album would be out last fall, but because we ended up switching labels, we had to push it back into the new year. We’ve been waiting for so long. We released a lot of singles because that was a new thing the label wanted us to try. I think it was good to get people familiar with the fact that it’s just the two of us before the whole album comes out.
I’ve heard both sides of the single strategy—releasing one a month so the algorithms pick you up. Some people feel that by the time the record is out, there are only a few new songs left.
MEEGAN: Exactly. That’s the hope. The internet is built for short attention spans; it’s hard to have attention these days. This allows for people to really take in each song more versus just being like, “here’s a full album I have to pay attention to.”
Two non-band-related questions to wrap up. Is there anything you’ve heard recently—new or just new to you—that has really caught your ear?
MEEGAN: A few things, but there is this artist called The Man, the Myth, the Meatslab? It’s a wild band name, but he’s actually opening for us on one of our upcoming tours. His music is gorgeous. He’s from England, and we feel lucky to have him.
I’ll check that out. Last question: I’ve been asking this since I had a website in the 90s. Is there a specific song or album that, when you hear it, takes you back to a moment so specific you can smell the smells and taste the tastes?
MEEGAN: Oh, yeah. Imogen Heap. I can’t think of the album name, but we were raised on very Christian music, jazz, and country. My brother went to college and when he came back, he told me to listen to her. I didn’t even know music could sound like that. Anytime I hear it, I think of the exact moment he put the headphones on me in the living room. I was just like, “Whoa.”
