Joe was born in Macclesfield, England on May 28th 1976, his Dad was a guitar player and his Mother an artist.
At the age of four Joe took up the drums to accompany his older brother Ben who at the ripe old age of 9 was singing the blues and playing a mean guitar. This was the beginnings of a duo that is still ongoing 30 years later.
The violin captured Joe's imagination in 1981 and he took an interest in folk, classical, blues and jazz music from the word go. His first performances were with Ben around the age of nine and he quickly went through the classical exams, gaining one of the highest ever marks in his grade 8. Joe also took up the mandolin, guitar and piano before reaching his 10th birthday.
Joe was obsessed with learning things when he was young and spent 6 years working with circus artists. He played the violin on a unicycle, juggled with fire, was a magicians apprentice and much more besides. This lead the BBC to make a short film about Joe and his diverse talents when he was 13 years old. After touring up and down the country either doing street theatre or in big tops Joe decided to focus on music but not before a small juggling role in the Patrick Bergin and Uma Thurman film "Robin Hood".
Alongside the music and being in the circus Joe was a keen young poet, winning awards for his poetry and being published in two books. Bringing his poetry and composition together in 1999 Joe wrote his own book simply called "a collection of fiddle pieces".
Ben and Joe played many great venues including the Assembly Rooms at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Fylde Folk Festival by the time Joe was 14. They joined forces with folk scene favourite Keith Hancock in 1993 to form "Famous Last Words" who toured Europe extensively over the following few years. Although this band never recorded, Ben and Joe have to date made three duo albums: "the continuing adventures of..." (1996) "me and my brother" (1999) and "The Mortgage Years" (2006).
In 1994 Joe went to Birmingham Conservatoire to study composition which he did under the great John Mayer. As a virtuoso violin player himself and the inventor of Indo Jazz Fusion in the '60s this was an incredibly fortunate meeting for Joe. Joe was awarded the composition prize in 1996 and later an honary membership of the Conservatoire which carries the designation HonBC.
Professor Andrew Downes invited Joe to lead the Conservatoire
Folk Ensemble in 1998 which he has built into a 50 piece touring band. Many successful musicians have passed through the ensemble and it continues to amaze audiences up and down the UK on its annual spring tour. They released an album aptly titled "Sardines" in 2008 which features over 80 musicians.
Ashley Hutchings, founder member of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span invited Joe to join the legendary Albion Band in 1997 which he then played in until 2003. They released four studio albums and one live album in this time as well as touring the world.
