Joe West

press release: Songwriter and performer Joe West returns to specially-selected venues with his acclaimed, dance-friendly country rock.  He carries Western authenticity from his hometown Santa Fe to the lucky cities on this tour.  Joe will appear on Friday, September 7, at The Harmony in Madison starting at 9:45 pm.

Joe West’s music – jaunty and fun, mysterious and dangerous – draws from such disparate sources as Terry Allen, David Bowie and Lou Reed. Snake-bit heroes, cursed lovers, existential redemption – these character-rich stories are expressed with wry empathy, and sung in a warm, earnest tenor. 

His touring band sharpens and sweetens his original, irresistible songs with their genuine New Mexico sound. Margaret Burke (bass) is a Santa Fe rhythm legend, Tim “Slim” Arnold (lead guitar) plays with a buzz coiled like rattlesnake venom, and Karina Wilson (fiddle) sounds as stunning as a summer sunset.   

Having toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe, Joe has shared the stage with acts as diverse as Peter Rowan, Arlo Guthrie, and the Violent Femmes.  Years in South Dakota and Minnesota instilled his lifelong appreciation for the Midwest.

Over his multi-colored career he has been honored by numerous sources.  The Santa Fe Reporter as a “Best of” musician for his albums in 2015, 2012, 2011, 2010, and 2009.  His previous album Blood Red Velvet was rated one of the top albums of 2014 by

the Daily Telegraph (UK), which called it “strange and appealing.” Alt-country magazine No Depression added that it was “wonderful, and straight to the top of the pile.”  His brand-new album, Rodeo of the Soul, pushes deeper into that dark territory and is poised to collect even more accolades.

Hailing from the austere ranchlands of northern New Mexico, Joe reflects his family’s dichotomy of cowboys and artists, doers and dreamers.  As a free-spirited entertainer with a rancher’s work ethic, theater was his first love.  In August 2018, he launched the wildly successful 1^st Annual Film Festival of Madrid, NM.  Joe West’s Theater of Death, now in its sixth year, produces an annual anthology of horror/comedy plays, featuring original live music and macabre melodramatics, inspired by the Grand Guignol Theatre of Paris.  2018’s Theater of Death production, “Freakatorium,” will be terrifying audiences this Halloween.