About Joe

Now living in Belfast, Joe confesses to having played his guitar the wrong way round for far too long to stop now. Since first picking up the guitar at the tender age of 12, Joe who’s completely blind, started playing the instrument with his left hand (fretting hand), over the top of the neck, rather than underneath, the more conventional approach. Over the years, Joe’s unusual playing technique has attracted significant interest and started many a barstool conversation by those who have seen him perform.

A live performer of over 25 years, Joe is a singer, musician and song writer hailing from Dromintee, Co. Armagh in Northern Ireland. Joe wows audiences with his unique guitar style and an uncompromising vocal delivery that has enthralled and entertained audiences in venues throughout Ireland and beyond. Joe found the forced solitude and isolation of the Covid-19 lockdown, the perfect opportunity to finally work on recording and releasing an EP of original songs.

Joe says: “It’s a great feeling to release a body of work that you can say is completed. But on the other hand I’m going to miss the creative process that got me here. This all began with a shocking realisation that I take a lot of things in my life, including music, for granted and the Covid-19 pandemic has shown us all how quickly that can change. So I was determined to record and release this EP before the end of 2021.”

“I can’t see a thing, I’m as blind as it gets. I know everyone’s experience is different but it’s not easy navigating a path through the music industry. There’s no doubt in my mind that people who are blind or live with any kind of disability, still face barriers from negative attitudes and stereotyping each and every day. There’s a long way to go until we are taken at face value in an industry like music. But I also believe that there’s never been a better time to push those boundaries and challenge those perceptions. Your disability or the bit that people see, isn’t everything you are.”

2022 will see Joe taking his music to the next stage, the live stage. Plans are already underway for live shows later this year and work has already begun on some new material as a follow-up to his debut EP Perfect Fool.