bio

Joe K. Walsh is hailed by legendary fiddler Darol Anger called “one of my favorite musicians on earth,” and by CBC-Newfoundland as “one of the best mandolinists of his generation”. His mandolin playing has been featured on many records, including several IBMA-award winning albums with bluegrass stars the Gibson Brothers. He tours the country and world, most often with Mr Sun, an adventurous string-band featuring Grant Gordy, Darol Anger, and Ethan Jodziewicz, or in a trio with Brittany Haas and Owen Marshall. He is a mandolin instructor at the Berklee College of Music, and is also the associate director of the “Berklee American Roots Weekend: Bluegrass, Blues, and Beyond”.

Joe started playing stringed instruments in high school in Minnesota, and moved to the Northeast when he was admitted to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, as its first student with a principal instrument of the mandolin. While there he studied with John McGann, Matt Glaser, and Eugene Friesen, among others, and became the school’s first graduate on the mandolin. While still a student, Joe helped found the genre-bending indie-pop string band Joy Kills Sorrow, with which he played for several years. He also worked for several years with both the New England Bluegrass Band and Northern Lights, two of the best bluegrass groups to arise from the northeast’s potent music scene.

Joe settled in Portland, Maine in the fall of 2007. Shortly after that he joined the bluegrass super-group the Gibson Brothers as their mandolinist, and four award-winning years and three number one records followed. In addition to his work with the Brothers, in these few years Joe played, toured and recorded with Grammy-nominated guitarist Scott Nygaard, as well as with the iconic folk singer Jonathan Edwards.

In the spring of 2011 Joe released his second solo record, “Sweet Loam,” which features several of his recent compositions and new arrangements of some more familiar songs. An exceptional cast of musicians joins him, including Mike Block, Scott Law, Karl Doty, Lauren Rioux, and Darol Anger, who also co-produced the record with Joe.

After a number of years of mightily inspired but infrequent collaboration with Darol Anger, Joe and Darol formed a band called Mr Sun with the wildly creative guitarist Grant Gordy and monstrous young bass talent  Ethan Joziewicz. Their playing owes a debt to bluegrass, Dawg music, and jazz, and is centered on musical conversation and heavy listening.

When he’s not on the road Joe plays every Monday night in Portland at Otto Pizza (574 Congress Street Portland ME).

 

Copyright © 2012 Joe Walsh/Skinny Elephant Music. All rights reserved.
Photos by Amanda Kowalski | Site design by Alden Robinson

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