Joe Solo UK
Joe Solo has busked his way around Europe, fronted pop-punk 4-piece Lithium Joe for a decade, and made 7 solo albums in 5 years. Live he hits a mean guitar, blo
5
songs
51
plays
It Takes A Worried Man It Takes A Worried Man
The Day I Shake The Blues The Day I Shake The Blues
My first stab with a full band since 2001, and a lot of fun it was too. I'd forgotten how great it feels with an amp on full....
White Feather (A Conchie's Lament) White Feather (A Conchie's Lament)
Holes In The Soles Of Your Shoes Holes In The Soles Of Your Shoes
Mug Tree Blues Mug Tree Blues
Untraditional Folk SingerBand/artist history
Joe Solo began his musical life playing punk covers in a school band. Performing his first original song live in 1987, he discovered folk music through the punk leanings of The Pogues, The Men They Couldn't Hang and Billy Bragg. Inspired by their songs and stories, Joe hit the road travelling and busking, soaking up the sights and sounds of everywhere from Birmingham to Berlin, eventually hitch-hiking his way round England, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Holland and Belgium.
Settling in Hull in the spring of 1991, he formed pop-punk four-piece Lithium Joe. The band toured and recorded independently for the next ten years playing close to four hundred shows around Britain and Ireland. After four singles and two albums they finally split in 2001.
Following the band's demise, Joe returned to his roots, taking with him the attitude and spirit of his days in the band. His tastes had widened too. A love of Tom Waits and Townes Van Zandt, together with a new revelation. "Gillian Welch knocked me flat. The way The Clash had done when I was a kid. Here were all these different styles I loved with a passion, and so I set about trying to mix them. Trying to marry punk, folk, blues and country without treading on tradition."
Joe's 2008 album "Me & Billy The Kid" showcased his love of storytelling like never before. Doomed soldiers rubbed shoulders with hobo visionaries and jaded pub singers, each with their own tale to tell. A giant step forward.
Later that year Joe responded to a request by Scarborough-based writer Graham Rhodes for some music to accompany a play he'd written about the First World War. A thirteen song collection titled "Music From Potter's Field" was released in February 2009. "I totally immersed myself in that one, and my nightmares you would not want. But it was a real labour of love and I was sad when it was finished really. I'm taking this one round schools in a kind of musical history lesson. Trying to bring the past to life".
A further album "Forwards Is Just Backwards In Reverse" arrived in February 2010, and Joe has already begun writing for 2011. "I don't do standing still. Got to keep working. Got to keep pushing myself. If you ever stop it's over isn't it? That's just not for me. I'll be around a good while yet."
DISCOGRAPHY
As Joe Solo:
Forwards Is Just Backwards In Reverse CDLP 2010
Music From Potter's Field CDLP 2009
Me & Billy The Kid CDLP 2008
Strong At The Broken Places CDLP 2007
Seaside Songs & Smalltown Stories CDLP 2006
The Man Who Dreamed Of Fairyland CDLP 2005
An Exile In Suburbia CDLP 2004
With Lithium Joe:
At The Rainbow's End CDLP 2001
Upstairs At Park Street CDLP 2000
War Stories 7"EP 1998
SOS Bombs 7"EP 1997
Smalltown CDEP 1996
Enjoy Life 7"EP 1995Your musical influences
Joe Strummer, Woody Guthrie, Tom Waits, Gillian Welch, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Lee HaysWhat equipment do you use?
My beloved Tanglewood Geetar, a coupla Lee Oskar Harmonicas and anything that sounds good when you hit it.
United Kingdom
ID
843166
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