Joseph Arthur

Joseph Arthur is one of those neo-singer/songwriter hipster types with a guitar, a vision, some catchy tunes, and a lot of teen angst. Self-described, his music is "someone struggling to heal over experimental folk-rock." Well, the experimental folk-rock business is quite true, considering that his debut, Big City Secrets went through all sorts of interesting song structures and instruments, like the hurdy gurdy and sarangi. The healing business is probably from his angst driven lyrics. While he hasn't changed much, his songs are more diverse on his latest album, Come To Where I'm From, which features the left-field smash, "Chemical."

Arthur's bittersweet folk style tends to lend itself more to the mature and melancholy Cohen/Waits school of brooding than it is similar to a "teen angst" classification. His voice runs the gamut between both ragged wails and soft crooning melodies and his lyrics are deeply personal and clever.

Arthur is from Akron, Ohio and is currently living in New York. He was "discovered" by Peter Gabriel, who signed him to his Real World label. He has appeared on Joan Osborne's "Righteous Love" and played guitar, bass and supplied vocals on Sister Soleil's "Soularium."

Arthur's most recent album was currently featured on NPR and he has been touring with Ben Harper and Gomez. He is also a writer, sculptor and painter.

Albums:

• Big City Secrets (1997)
• Vacancy (1999)
• Come To Where I'm From (2000)