Joseph LeDoux is Professor Emeritus at New York University. He is also the author of the best-selling book “The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life”, as well as numerous other influential writings. With decades of research experience, LeDoux is regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on the mind and brain.

In addition to his academic contributions, LeDoux is a prolific musician and recording artist. He has collaborated with artists such as Rosanne Cash and performed with his band, The Amygdaloids, alongside musicians like Rufus Wainwright, Lenny Kaye, and Steve Wynn of The Dream Syndicate. He has also written scores for programs and documentaries. What has this man not done?

Although he is renowned worldwide as a neuroscientist, LeDoux is fundamentally a gifted musician hailing from Eunice, Louisiana. He is a humble, kind-spirited individual who radiates positivity, and we encourage you to check out his music.

The Amygdaloids, his band, is somewhat reminiscent of Devo due to their intelligent subject matter and the fact that the band is comprised of scientists. Their songs are quirky, thoughtful, unique, and extraordinary. The band’s music has been playfully described as "heavy mental”, and coincidentally, that is the name of their first album, which features a blend of classic and experimental sounds, with tracks that evoke the sound of Tom Petty meets Elvis Costello. The standout guitar work, characterized by clean tones, is only one profound layer to The Amygdaloids' music. It can be mellow yet soulful, but then completely take a turn into something more rockin'. With lyrics that delve into the complexities of the mind, you find yourself thinking as well as listening.

The Amygdaloids’ second album, Theory of My Mind, leans toward a more upbeat and rock-oriented sound, with each song distinctly unique. The compositions are intricate, showcasing a tight-knit group of musicians. If I could create a genre for this band’s music, I would have to title it Brain Rock. One standout track for me on The Amygdaloids’ second album is ‘Brainstorm’, which begins with a beautifully fuzzy guitar that howls gently, highlighting the talent of a truly gifted guitarist.

In addition to two full-length albums, the band has also released a few EPs along the way, too. So, how did I come to learn about Joseph LeDoux? My journey into the realm of Joseph began with a delightful twist of fate, sparked by my friendship with fellow musician Paul Sanchez when he introduced us. After that introduction, I had the incredible opportunity to engage in an enjoyable conversation with Joseph, delving into the nuances of his music and more. We left no stone unturned. Read on below.

MaM: You were born and raised in Eunice, Louisiana, but now reside in New York. How much do you miss things down here? When you come to visit, do you ever think you’ll stick around this time? What drew you to New York initially?

JL: Well, I grew up in Eunice, and the year that I graduated from high school, a junior college version of LSU opened up in Eunice, and my parents wanted me to stay and go to the junior college because it would be cheaper, even though LSU wasn’t that much. I told them “No” and that I wanted to go to LSU, and so we went back and forth, and they finally said, “Well, if you promise to be a banker after studying business, then we’ll allow it. We’ll do it.” I attended LSU for four years, studying Business Administration, and subsequently earned a master's degree in marketing. During this process, I also took several psychology courses. It was the late 1960s to early 1970s, and it wasn’t very cool to be in Marketing.

MaM: (laughter) Right?

JL: So, I’m looking for something else to do, and I fell in love with Psychology. I took a course called Learning and Motivation, expecting it to be relevant – I was working on consumer protection for my thesis, and it turned out the class was taught by a researcher studying rat brains and memory at LSU. He was the professor, and that was his class. I had no idea you could study the brain, let alone rat brains. I worked in his lab for a little while, and I mainly observed what was going on. I didn’t really know how to do anything. I decided, though, that I wanted that to be my career. Study the brain. He said to me that I didn’t have a chance and asked how I was going to get into graduate school with no qualifications. 

(laughter)

I said, “Well, I’m gonna give it a shot.” So, I wrote twelve or so applications, and Stony Brook University, located on Long Island in New York, accepted me because there was someone there who knew the professor who wrote the letter on my behalf, and thus I was given a chance. Four years later, I had a PhD in consciousness and was studying patients with epilepsy, and a book that had come out with my thesis work, so it was like I was on speed dial or something.

(laughter)

MaM: So, you had no choice but to move up there? Destiny decided it for you.

JL: I could have left and come back, but I really always had a fascination with New York City because of the Yankees. I was a big Yankees fan as a kid. I also loved all the noir movies I watched as a kid … 50s black-and-white films with murder and all kinds of things happening in New York. I just had a feeling I was meant to live there, and I ended up leaving Stony Brook and moving to Manhattan, where I worked at Cornell Medical School for over ten years. I then moved to New York University, where I have been ever since, and I have just retired, by the way.

MaM: That’s amazing. What a life. What was it like growing up in Eunice in those days? With our magazine, we’ve done a few photo shoots out there just because of the architecture and small-town vibe. Did it still have that country-where-everybody-knows-everyone type of feel?

JL: Exactly. It was a perfect place to grow up, and I really enjoyed it. Just this past weekend, I was in New Orleans for a conference and some other work, but I also arranged a lecture and performance for the people of Eunice. It was advertised in the Eunice news – a big picture of me playing my guitar on stage. We had a good audience – approximately 45 to 50 people attended. Many of them I went to school with and hadn’t seen in a long time. I just lost touch with the whole community, and so I decided if not now, then when. It was the most pleasant and loving audience I have ever spoken to or played music for. It was quite amazing. They loved it so much that they want it to become an annual event. I was deeply touched and felt like I was truly back in the small community where I grew up. Even though I don’t live there, I now feel I have a stronger connection to it than I thought I did. 

MaM: That’s amazing. The vibe and sense of community are what I love so much. I love that town. I saw that you were a DJ in high school. I was a DJ in college. Wasn’t that the best experience being a DJ?

JL: It was. The highlight of my DJ’ing occurred when the radio station would bring in acts to play in town at the National Guard armory. Every Saturday night, there’d be an event. They’d book Little Bob and The Lollipops all the time. They were the go-to band. I think Little Bob is still around, but one of the things I did was host Percy Sledge. When it was time for him to go out, he pulled a flask of whiskey out of his back pocket and gave it to me for a swig. That was a highlight of my life, man. Drinking with Percy Sledge.

MaM: What a story. I love your music, and nothing is cooler than the fact that your band is a bunch of scientists. What is it about music that makes you passionate and makes you want to continue to pursue it, especially today?

JL: So, I actually put music down when I started becoming a scientist and got married. There just wasn’t enough time for everything. In 2005, our son died from a heroin overdose, and so that’s what brought me back to music because music is a great healer, and I started hanging out with a biologist at NYU, and we were playing songs that had some science-based themes.  I then thought I could write a few songs, so we did, and we got a gig in Brooklyn. The newspaper wrote a comment about ‘heavy mental’ and used that to describe our music, so that became the title of our first album and the genre. I think we’re the only band with that particular genre, and if there’s ever an award at the Grammys in that category, we definitely got it. 

MaM: That would actually be a clever name for a band. When you do sit down to write, what is the process like for coming up with a song?

JL: I guess there are two ways you can do it. Pick up a guitar, start strumming, and hope something comes out. The other way is to start with an idea or theme. The thing with having a genre-specific catalog of music is that a lot of what I did was start with a particular theme about the mind. Anything you could think of with the mind. Many of our songs are love songs about mind, brain, and mental disorders, but you could pretty much say any song is about mind, brain, and mental disorders. It’s front and center to what we do. 

MaM: Now, I know we all listen to different types of music, and we all enjoy the catalogs of our favorite musicians, but do you have a favorite song of all time that you love? Or a favorite musician?

JL: I think for me, it would be ‘She Loves You’ by The Beatles.

MaM: Ok, that’s a great one. That’s a timeless song.

JL: I remember when I first heard The Beatles, I was young and had a transistor radio and was taking a bath listening to the music. Just soaking it all in. I must have been 15-16 years old at the time, but on comes this song ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’, and nothing sounded like it before. That was something different. I think The Beatles are just amazing. I’m writing a memoir right now, and the title of it is ‘Just Like Starting Over’. John Lennon and Yoko felt that every time they were together, it was just like starting over. My memoir is about all of the ways I have started over in my life. Eunice to Baton Rouge to Stony Brook to science. Lots of starting over. As a young kid, I was more interested in Paul than John, but over time, I developed an attachment to John and his sincerity. He had a tough life, and he really turned it all into wonderful music. I mean, Paul did, too, but there was something edgy about John that I came to love. Also in this book, I sort of used the Billboard Top 100 for every year of my life, starting with when I was five years old, to trigger memories from that time. If I wanted to try to drag up memories from when I was ten, I would pull up the songs that really lit the lightbulb in my head, and just by playing those songs, it would trigger more memories. It was a good strategy.

MaM: So, when is this memoir coming out? I'll be sure to check it out.

JL: It’s at the publisher now, so it’ll take at least a year to come out.

MaM: Your last music release was in 2017, correct? Any new music coming?

JL: I guess that was the last one because everything went digital. I make music at home, creating albums, but what I have been doing since 2017 is collecting songs with two themes. One is songs of love, and the other is songs of life. I envision this as a vinyl A-side with songs of love and a B-side with songs of life.

MaM: I love that. How do you rate today’s music, and are there any up-and-coming musicians you like currently?

JL: I’m not too hip on really present music. I don’t resonate with it as much as the old stuff I like. I am definitely stuck on a bunch of 60s artists, but bands that I like are really not current. Son Volt is one, and I like a lot of Americana country rock. I love Wilco. He apparently has just released a three-record album. It’s all acoustic and mellow. Just very mild. It’s nice. 

MaM: I love singer-songwriter material. I love the vibe.

JL: I’ve been writing this thing, and I don’t know what it’s going to be on, but it goes like this:

"I grew up in French Louisiana, in the area known as Acadiana, where it’s hot and humid most of the year; you fix that up with boudin and beer. Penguin nuns made me a pet. First communion came, I began to sweat. Watching the father, son, and the ghost, I choked on the host, and that made me toast. I had a hankering for the music called pop. When The Beatles came their pop was rock with two guitars, bass, and the drums. We had our own rockin fun …” and on and on.

(laughter)

MaM: I love that!!!

JL: It’s going to be a long Bob Dylan-type rant.

MaM: That’s what is missing in music. We really don’t have too many Bob Dylan types these days, or if we do, they aren’t in the mainstream with poetic lyrics like that. They’re more obscure. For listeners who are discovering your music for the first time, how would you describe it, and what do you hope they’ll take away from it?

JL: Well, they are mostly love songs about the mind and the brain, and one in particular, ‘Map of Your Mind’, everyone seems to like. They’re songs about connection. Take our conversation for example, I have to get into your mind, and you have to get into mine. So, the song is about the relationship between a man and woman, my wife and I in particular, and how you have to float into the other person’s mind because sometimes, if you’re having an argument, you have to understand the other person’s perspective. Still, sometimes the hormones and the argument override that and you have to come back to it the next day and apologize. It’s more about the good part of love. Sailing deep inside and trying to find the heat of the person’s heart, keeping yourself warm. 

MaM: If within the next five years you could accomplish anything musically, what would it be?

JL: I’m good friends with Rosanne Cash, and she has sung back-up vocals on one of my albums, and she and her husband are an amazing power couple. If I could do something with them, that would be amazing. Neil Young, too. I have a house in upstate New York, and it’s ten minutes away from the original site of the Woodstock festival. They created a big outdoor venue there, and I just saw Neil there recently. Great show. Dylan plays there, too, sometimes. Bob or Neil. Either of those. 

As Joseph LeDoux continues his journey, one thing is certain: we can expect more music in the future. In the meantime, be sure to check out his other releases with his band, The Amygdaloids and stay tuned for his memoir dropping in 2026.

To learn more about Joseph LeDoux and The Amygdaloids:

Website:

Joseph E. Ledoux

Band Website:

The Band – The Amygdaloids | Neuroscience meets Rock & Roll

YouTube:

The Amygdaloids Channel - YouTube

Spotify:

The Amygdaloids | Spotify

Apple Music:

https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-amygdaloids/265644607

*Cover photo credit: Richard Barone, Tape Op

Tape Op - Music Production Magazine, Recording, Audio, Technology

www.mixedaltmag.com

Southern-based indie music/arts/entertainment magazine with a 90s flair. www.mixedaltmag.com

Questions or comments? Drop us a line at mixedalternativemag@gmail.com.