So What Kind of Songs Does Papa Joe Write and Perform?
Papa Joe plays guitar, banjo, harmonica, some dulcimer and kazoo. (Yes, kazoo!) His musical tastes were influenced by old-time rock and roll (Buddy Holly, The Platters, etc.), the folk music revival (Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton) and humorous songwriters, particularly Tom Lehrer. When he finally started songwriting, he was also influenced by many local folk/Americana artists and songwriters that he met at the various music camps that he started attending, starting with songwriting classes at the Kerrville Folk Festival, where he learned from legends like Peter Yarrow, and finally becoming a regular at the SummerSongs/WinterSongs camps at the Ashokan Center in the Catskill Mountains of New York, where he learned from pros like Mike Smith, Penny Nichols, David Roth, Steve Gillette, Sloan Wainwright, Scott Ainslie, Cosy Sheridan and many others.
The result of this past decade and a half is a mixture of silly and serious works, twenty-four of which are included on his CD, entitled Open Mike, which is a tribute to the many open mics that got him started performing in public. A song of the same name is also the title track of this album. To check out the album, just click on the CD Baby link in the box at the right. You can also become one of Papa Joe's "friends" on his MySpace page (see links). Papa Joe also puts many of his unpublished songs on his Broadjam page (see below).
In addition to his shows, Papa Joe hangs out at the Leo Coffeehouse, maintained by the Queen City Balladeers (see links), where he frequently emcees the shows there. He also runs his own open mike night each Thursday at Crosswalk Coffee in Eaton, Ohio (again, see links). So if you're in the neighborhood, drop in and say "hello"!
Hear Papa Joe's songs for free at his Broadjam page: [click here]
