Joe Purdy

What a day! I logged on to Facebook this morning and saw that Joe Purdy had posted a message, that his long-awaited 10th album was just released this morning... Happy St. Patrick's Day to me! Here's the cover art for the album, and if you click on this link you can listen to Joe's new album, "Last Clock On The Wall". This is his10th self-released album.

So I've already purchased the entire album directly from Joe Purdy records. It was $9.99. There are 10 regular tracks plus 2 bonus tracks that came with the purchase as well as the album art. My favorite song is Miss Me, without a doubt. Let Me Sing To You is a very sweet song. Last Clock on the Wall and Dress is Too Long are great, easy to listen to songs, and Been Up So Long is really emotionally charged.

You can go directly to Joe's site joepurdy.com if you'd like to purchase the cd. It is also available through iTunes and Amazon as well as various music stores.

Thanks, Joe Purdy, for making St. Patty's Day 2009 an awesome one for me!

Singer/songwriter Joe Purdy released his 10th album "Last Clock on the Wall" on March 17th, 2009 at 4:00 in the morning, because that is when he finished it. Purdy releases his albums on his independent label, Joe Purdy Records, and with the help of national TV placements and a grassroots fan base, has been able to sell a staggering 800,000 direct track downloads in the US on Itunes without ever signing to a label.

Because Joe's writing process is heavily influenced by the environment that surrounds him, Purdy's albums act as a travel guide for his experiences. Last Clock On The Wall was recorded over 6 days at Old Mill Studios, located in a 17th century mill converted into a live arts theater in Strathaven, just outside of Glasgow. Take My Blanket and Go (2007) was recorded in NYC following a UK tour in 2006, You Can Tell Georgia (2006) was recorded outside of London immediately following a European tour with Tom McRae, while Paris in the Morning (2006) was recorded during a short visit to Paris a few months later. Canyon Joe (2007) was recorded at his home in California, after being stranded in New Mexico during a blizzard over New Years Eve.

You can read the rest of this write-up here.

In case you still don't know a whole lot about Joe, here's an excerpt from an article written on Last.fm (in 2008) about him:


Joe Purdy is a North American based folk singer-songwriter. He has currently released nine albums to date: his self titled debut, Sessions from Motor Ave., Stompingrounds, Julie Blue, Only Four Seasons, You Can Tell Georgia, and Paris in the Morning, Canyon Joe, and Take My Blanket and Go. All of his albums are available for free listening on his homepage.

Born and raised in bluegrass country - Fayetteville, Arkansas - Purdy fast developed an appreciation for music. Listening to Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Buddy Holly, and pretty much anything playing on the oldies station.

But it was a more contemporary artist that first truly impressed on Purdy the power of songwriting. When he was twelve, he got a hold of his father's record player and sitting in the player was James Taylor's Sweet Baby James LP. Purdy was sold, and very quickly became partial to someone who could effectively paint a picture with words.

Check out the rest of this article here.

When I saw that Joe Purdy was going to be playing locally, I jumped at the opportunity to see him live. The tickets were only $12!

So in the time leading up to the show, I was getting more and more anxious and excited. I was also getting nervous because I had no idea what to expect--and I have no idea how many fans he may have in my area, so I was worried that because he was playing at such a small place that I might not be able to get in!

So it turns out that he doesn't have too many fans in the area. Good for ME!

I took along my husband, sister-in-law, and my sister-in-law's boyfriend. We got to the place he was playing at a little too early (the doors were locked), and we had to take a little walk to a Starbucks around the corner to kill some time. When we got back, we walked right in and looked for a place to sit down. As it turned out, Joe was sitting on a small sofa in the corner tuning his guitar. I whispered to my husband, "I'm pretty sure that's him. I want to say hi." And so I did. I walked right up to a guy that I admire and respect for his amazing musical ability, and he shook my hand and talked to me like he was just a regular... joe. Ha-ha. I just had to slip that one in. ;)

So I told him that I'm a huge fan of his, that I'm so excited to see him play live for the first time, and it's amazing to get to meet him. He thanked me. He was so humble, sincere, and seemingly baffled by how excited I was. His voice is very quiet. He seemed so shy. So I asked him what he was going to play. He said, "Oh, I dunno. I was just gonna come here and have a few scotches and sing a few songs."

Oh. Well, I figured I'd ask him if he had any plans to sing any of my favorite songs, and I proceeded to list about 15 songs. He stopped me at one of them and said, "How does that one go???"

Ok... Well I wasn't about to sing it to him!

The man has put out NINE albums since 2001. That's a lot of songs to remember!

Mostly he told me he was planning on singing some new songs that he just wrote. I whipped out my iPod to show him my all Joe Purdy playlist. He said, "Well isn't that a tiny little thing" about my iPod, like he'd never seen one before. He thanked me again. I asked him if he could at least play one song that I know.

So we just chatted again for a few minutes. The rest of my group came over to talk to him, too, when I blatantly motioned to them to get the heck over there. He immediately asked everyone's names and shook everyone's hands and said "Nice to meet you guys." When he met my husband he asked if he and I had any kids. We told him we have two girls, and he asked their ages. We told him they are two and four years old. He said "Congratulations. That's great."

So then I MAY have mentioned to him that I was more nervous to come see him play than I was going into labor with my two girls. He thought that was funny, and I told him I was serious.

I MAY also have mentioned that I had just recently told my husband that I must see two shows before I die, and they are U2 and Joe Purdy. Joe was really amazed by that and thanked me again, and I again reminded him that I was serious. Joe told me that he's "just a regular dude." I told him that I think he's amazing. I asked him what he was gonna do when he becomes amazingly famous. He didn't have an answer for that and told me that he just bought a little house with his "girl" in Arkansas and has been spending a lot of time outdoors putting up a fence and fixing up the house. He's honestly not into the fame and fortune thing. He really just loves music, and I think that makes him even more amazing. I asked if I could get a couple of pictures with him.
He said he's "not good in pictures." I really didn't care! He was really shy and wasn't sure what to do with himself. I wanted to put my arm around his back, but I didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable!

So the time finally came for him to sing. It was just Joe and his guitar and his harmonica(s). He does have a band, but he didn't have them on this night. That was fine with me. He opened with a slow version of Cinderella & the A Train--one of my favorites that I had mentioned to him earlier--and he had commented "Oh, that's a good one. You've given me a lot of good ideas."

He only played like 5 songs, I think. His eyes were closed pretty much the whole time when he was singing. I was standing like 10 feet away from him. He played a song called surgery and You Can Tell Georgia, and the rest were new songs that he was planning on putting on his next (his 10th) self-released album.

I chatted with a few other fans in between songs who seemed equally as excited as I was to be there. We chatted about our favorite Joe Purdy songs. They all mentioned that they saw me talking to him earlier and thought that I knew him, and they were jealous! I told them that I didn't know him, but I saw him sitting there and felt that he was approachable, so I took the opportunity because I figured I'd never have that opportunity again.

When he was done with his set, he left for a bit and then came back out and went straight to the bar. My husband just so happened to be closing out our tab, and Joe was standing right next to him. I went back over to tell Joe "Thanks again, it was great meeting you, and I look forward to hearing your new music." He thanked my husband and I for coming to the show, and he said "Take care of that two and four year old."

And we left the place shortly after. I may just remember this for the rest of my life. It's not like some life-altering moment (like when I first became a mom) or anything like that, but getting to meet a guy who is so incredibly talented and yet so amazingly humble and thankful is pretty rare, and I will treasure it. Naturally I will continue to follow Joe's career and enjoy his music as it comes.

I went to New York City to see Joe play at the City Winery. If you've never been there before, I highly recommend the place. The wine, the food, and the atmosphere were great.
The opening act was Meiko, which I was pleasantly surprised about because I love her music, but there was no mention of her or any opening act for that matter until she appeared on stage. She was great, played a bunch of great songs, and she was very funny in between songs.
So then Joe came out and played a bunch of my favorite tunes, starting with Cinderella and the A Train. He also played Easier, Been Up So Long, San Jose, The Sun, 3 songs with Garrison Starr including Oh Sister (a Bob Dylan cover), Sinkin' Low, Andrea, i love the rain the most, You Can Tell Georgia, and Sad Clown. He also played a few new songs, but he never told us the names! The sound was great, the crowd was great, and after the show I got to speak to Joe. I told him that I had met him last year at a show close to my home town, and he looked at me and said, "I thought so. Libby, right?" ... so I nearly passed out from the shock of Joe Purdy remembering my name from meeting me once a year ago, but somehow I gathered myself together and did what any other normal fan would do... I hugged him! And we chatted for a few minutes, and then I said goodbye and left... another awesome Joe Purdy show under my belt.