Biography

Joe is married with two children and he works as a self-employed Guitar Tutor and Singer-Songwriter. He lives in Berwick-upon-Tweed which is situated 2 miles south of the Scottish Border. His eclectic taste in music is reflected in his catalogue of songs which ranges from Acoustic to Gospel; with shades of rock, blues and jazz. Joe has had 9 of his songs (a couple of which were collaborations) reach the semi-finals of the UK Songwriting contest over the last couple of years. In 2007 his Instrumental piece ‘Nimble Yeti’ managed to gain a finalist position in this contest.

Joe learnt his first chords at 12 and went on to learn classical guitar for a couple of years. He wrote some of his first songs (which are best forgotten) during this period. He also went on to win the Beginner’s cup at the Tamworth Music Festival for Classical Guitar.

After leading worship for many years He took up writing again about 4 years ago following the death of a close friend. He has been an engineer and a Baptist Minister. He did a part-time PhD in theology via Queen’s University in Belfast . He left full-time pastoral ministry to complete this research and then moved into teaching. He gained a Distinction at Grade 8 in Electric Guitar and also has a songwriting diploma.

His songwriting covers all aspects of life and, from time to time, aspects of his faith surface in his compositions. Not surprisingly, his lyrics sometimes express the soul’s yearning for answers to pain and suffering. Music is a form of therapy, a means of soothing the soul and of finding fulfillment.