Joe Robinson

The incredibly talented Joe Robinson and I talked about his guitar playing, music and more! Visit joerobinson.com for updates, tour dates and more!

Q: What got you into playing guitar?
A: When I was growing up, my mom played drums in a rock band and there was always music around the house. My dad played a little bit too and I guess I always saw them playing music and their friends playing music and it was kind of like it jut became part of the scenery at home so naturally I started playing when I was very young, but it wasn’t until I was 10 or 11 that I developed a real passion for it.

Q: When did you start traveling all over the world to play shows and how did it create a different lifestyle, in a sense, for you?
A: When I was 15 I was invited to the US to tour with a guitar player named Tommy Emanuel who was kind of my mentor at the time and it really started the ball rolling in so many ways because I came to America and met a lot of people here who invited me back and a lot of people hooked me up with other people and the next think I knew I was touring in Europe and Asia and Canada and a lot of places I never really dreamed of touring and yeah one thing kind of lead to another and here I am.

Q: What has been your favorite place to travel to or where do you want to play a show?
A: I would love to play in South America, I’ve never been there and I’ve met people from there and they seem cool, but one of my favorite places to play was New Zealand. I played a few festivals down there and I would love to go back.

Q: What are you currently working on?
A: I’ve been working on a new album, which is really exciting. I was in Detroit in the studio up there for a while. I’ve been working on this album for almost a year so its really exciting thing to almost have it finished and we will be releasing it soon! I’m releasing a book on how to play a lot of my songs like some other I released previously as well as a DVD on how to play the guitar so lots of exciting things but the biggest is the album.

Q: What was it like to sing on the album?
A: It was really cool! Definitely a steep learning curve because I’m introducing a new instrument with the voice at it was a challenge and I still have some vocal stuff to do, but I’m loving doing something different. I love the fact that this album will reach a completely new audience of people. I’ve gotten to the point with singing where I’m starting to get comfortable with it and enjoy it and I can’t wait to share it and see how people respond.

Q: You have drawn a lot of attention from some of the top names in the guitar-manufacturing world so how many actual guitars do you own?
A: That’s a tricky question. I’m going to say, roughly thirty but some are back in Australia and some are here in Nashville and some of them companies give to me as a loan, but ballpark I would say about thirty.