Lonely Joe Parker

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Acoustic punk-in-disguise Lonely Joe Parker began his career with indie-rock kids The Power, but after festival appearances and national airplay he put down his electric guitar and set out alone last summer to discover 'a more interesting way to tell stories in sound'.

His bold, performance style harks back to Billy Bragg, while musically he owes more to Pavement, Broken Social Scene and The Clash. “I quickly realised that I wasn’t very good at the guitar,” he explains, “at least, not good enough to be a “guitarist”. But that doesn’t mean it has to be boring, either – you can make just as good a racket with two fingers on a fretboard, you just got to know which ones!”

As his growing live reputation across the UK proves, melody, harmony and performance make a potent combination and Lonely Joe Parker has already supported significant artists such as Band of Skulls, My Luminaires, Stornoway, The Moulettes, Edward J Hicks and Thomas Tantrum in his burgoning solo career.

Joe recently released a split EP, What’s Wrong With Broken Glass, on vinyl and download with Sotones label mate David Miatt a.k.a Jackie Paper. The EP gained the pair a “Track of the Day” accolade on the Q Magazine website, an extensive interview on Fairtilizer, features on The 405 and a great review in The Fly. All proceeds from the vinyl copy of the EP went to Oxfam.

Shanty is taken from the aforementioned EP and gloriously encapsulates Joe’s sincere lo-fi folk sound, with nods to greats such as Nick Drake. His ability to take you on a journey far, far away with heartfelt vocals and simple, beautiful strums will more than charm you into submission. Lonely Joe Parker is defintely set to become one of the most enchanting, underground songerwriters of our generation.