Runs May 26-30th.

Joe began playing music at the age of 11 years when he received his first guitar for Christmas. At 16, he formed a band and began playing teen-aged dances, singing rock and roll and pop songs of the day.

In the early 1980’s, Joe moved to Halifax and recorded his first single record entitled, “Forevermore,” which received air play in Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia. Soon the single was expanded into a full length record entitled, “City Lights and Harbor Lights.” Joe began to take song writing seriously and found a financial backer to support a second full length record entitled, “Don’t Give Up the Ship.”

In the early 1990’s, Joe found himself migrating to New Brunswick where he settled in Moncton. There he continued to play the bar scene, write songs, and record. He entered and won a song writing/performance contest; first prize was an all-inclusive week in New York City where he attended a music concert at Carnegie Hall up close and personal with non other than James Taylor – one of Joe’s early musical influences. Later, Joe traveled to Nashville to offer some of his original songs to publishers there. In Nashville, he recorded another single which was entitled, “I’ll Wait Forever for Love.” This song also enjoyed local air play in Halifax and Sydney.

In the late 1990’s, Joe left Moncton to support his ailing parents. He moved back to Cape Breton and again began playing the local bar scene. He continued working on and improving his ability to craft songs with interesting stories and meaning. In 2009, Joe recorded the “Andrea Gail” CD, the songs reflecting a Maritime flavor. The title song has been played on the Coast radio station, CBC (Sydney N.S.), and as well, some stations in Newfoundland and New England.

Joe’s latest recording has taken place at Lakewind Sound Studios, (Point Aconi, CB) the Shed Studio (Niagara on the lake, On.) and Smashbox Sound Studio (Dominion, CB, NS). It is a highly professional effort. Two original songs entitled, “‘Till Then” and “Not Coming Back Anymore” were released in the spring and summer of 2012. A full-length CD entitled, “Falling in Love” has just recently been released in the spring of 2014. The first “single” released from the new c d is a song Joe wrote for his daughter, Grace, who went from being a little girl playing with dolls, to a teenager heading off to the high school dances. Its title, ” She’s Growin’ Up ” says it all, and those who have children of any age can quickly identify with the deep sentiment of the lyrics which are framed around a simple, but catchy melody.

As well as playing and writing songs, Joe operates his own carpentry contracting business which supports not only his wife, Aileen, and children, Grace, Joel, and Emma, but also his recording endeavors . At present, he is in the process of recording another full length C D of original songs, entitled ” Autograph “, a song for his children, which was written in the summer of 2013. A C D release party is being planned for the summer of 2014, where Joe will perform songs from his various CD’s , including a few songs from his “Autograph ” CD , which is slated to be released in 2015.