Audiobook Power Couple Will Damron and January LaVoy on Chemistry and Love Stories (EXCLUSIVE)

It’s easy to listen to a good audiobook, especially in the romance genre, and fall in love with the swoony voice of the narrator. But in the case of audiobook narrators Will Damron and January LaVoy—they fell in love with each other. Known for a slew of standout audio performances, including Amy Tintera’s 2024 bestseller Listen for the Lie, the pair married in 2022 and now live in Atlanta, where they have a home recording studio to perform their famous voice work. FIRST connected with the power couple twice recently—once at the Love Y’all Romance Book Festival where they sat down for a “Talk Dirty to Me” discussion and another at the 2025 Audie Awards, where the couple took home the top prize in the mystery category. Here, Will and January share behind-the-scenes info on their award-winning careers, the exciting trends they’re seeing with dual-narration and full-cast narration projects and how their voice work often mirrors their life as a couple. Bonus: They also share a sexy snippet of a live dual-narration book reading for us, below!

Who are narrators January LaVoy and Will Damron?

You may recognize January LaVoy’s sultry voice from dozens of bestselling audiobooks by authors such as Nora Roberts, Karen Kingsbury, Nicholas Sparks, John Grisham and James Patterson. She is considered by many to be the top audiobook narrator in the game. (Check out a short sound clip of January narrating her award-winning performance in Listen for the Lie here.) But you may also recognize her face as an actress from the soap opera One Life To Live, where she played Noelle from 2006 to 2011. Fun fact: January was meant to work in books; she was named after a character in the book Once is Not Enough.

Her husband Will Damron has an impressive resume as well. He has voiced more than 700 audiobooks over the years and nabbed multiple awards. And he is often highlighted in Audible’s Best of the Year round-up lists. In addition, Will is an actor and author himself of The Tercentennial Baron, a fantasy-adventure novel.

How Will and January’s real-life chemistry fuels audiobook success

Last week Will and January got dressed up to attend the 2025 Audie Awards in New York City. (Think of it as the Oscars for audiobooks!) And no surprise, they won the award for best audiobook narration in the mystery category for the instant New York Times bestselling book Listen For The Lie, written by Amy Tintera. It was their first win together, but they’ve won individually before. (Will won in 2017 for the Young Adult category and January won in 2020 for the Fantasy category.) Will and January gave an exclusive interview to FIRST after their Audie win, and we caught up with them last month at the Love Y’all Book Fest in a “Talk Dirty To Me” audiobook panel discussion. Keep reading for all the details!

How Will and January feel about their big win

So how did it feel to hear their names announced? Will says, “In a word—we were thrilled! We had close friends nominated in the same category, and they were so kind and supportive of us when we won, which is pretty typical of the narrator community. It’s still relatively small, and people really champion each other’s work.”

The special meaning behind winning an Audie together

Winning wasn’t the only sweet thing about this year’s award ceremony. It was an anniversary of sorts. Will explains, “Most folks in the industry know that we are a couple. In fact, we met at the Audies gala many years ago! And so I think it felt extra meaningful.” Talk about living that book life with a real-life “HEA”—“happily ever after!” 

What was it like working together on this dual-narration project?

January shares, “Because Listen for the Lie was the first audiobook project we worked on together, its success has been very validating. We’re big fans of each others’ work, and so to get to collaborate—in the same recording studio, at the same time, getting to make eye contact and really lean into the chemistry or conflict between various characters—was an absolute blast.” She adds, “That recording style has become exceedingly rare in recent years.” Sure enough, these days it is more common for multiple narrators to record alone and then have the voices combined later in the post-production process. Check out the chemistry the pair had when they filmed this dual-narration scene for Listen for the Lie.

 “We’re big fans of each other’s work and so to get to collaborate—in the same recording studio, at the same time, getting to make eye contact and really lean into the chemistry or conflict between various characters—was an absolute blast.” -January LaVoy

Fans love dual-narration and full-cast narrations

Duets and full-cast narrations are all the buzz right now in the audiobook world. So we asked Will and January why they think listeners love them. Will says, “For audiobook fans, there is something really novel and fun about hearing their favorite narrators cast in a project together—and also discovering new narrators they’ve never encountered before, which is easier to do if you’re choosing a book because one of your faves is part of the cast.”

It may also have something to do with voice actors’ time commitments. Will explains, “Because full-cast or multi-narrator projects require less time from the individual narrators (but much more time on the post-production side) audio publishers are able to recruit celebrities and actors who don’t normally work in the audiobook medium, and it can be such a treat to hear a celebrity in a leading or even featured role in an audiobook.”

How the couple prepares to voice a romance book

With the fast pace of audiobooks these days, January says she only has a chance to read a book once before she has to start making notes and prepare to record. But she says with a laugh, “Using a few ‘specific’ keyword searches as soon as I get a script tells me exactly how spicy a book will be and what I’m in for.”

Good communication is key

When it comes to current-day duets and multicast narrations, Will and January know it’s all about open communication and being on the same page. Just like in a real-life partnership, Will explains, he always checks with the other person ahead of time to find out what their tone and vibe will be so he can “try to match it.”

The couple can also lean on each other. January shares, “I’m used to being in a soundproof room by myself.” And Will, an advocate for depression sufferers, has spoken about how working as a narrator can feel isolating at times. Thankfully, his spouse understands the demands of the job firsthand. Will also founded the support group Narrator Alliance to help create a sense of community for people working the often-solitary job of a narrator.

They still surprise one another in the romance department

When narrating spicy content in a romance novel, a real-life couple may find that art imitates real life. Once when they recorded together January says, “I knew how Will would say certain lines. I just knew.” But she adds that when Will was listening to her narrate, she noticed his face look up quickly from his microphone, his eyes wide, as if to say, “I did not expect that!”

Bonus: Watch Will and January give a sexy sample reading

Here is a snippet of Will and January when they performed a live table read of a book they co-narrated called It Had To Be You by Eliza Jane Brazier.

To listen to the whole story, check it out on Audible.