Joe Purdy Readies 'Canyon Joe'

I just recently heard of Joe Purdy, when I was checking out his album "Paris In The Morning". I liked what I heard and so I was thinking about posting something about him on here until I received a copy of his upcoming album, "Canyon Joe". As soon as I heard that, I knew I was going to post something about him. This is the 8th album that he's put out so far (since 2003), and I couldn't believe that I'd never really heard of him before.

I haven't put up too much folksy music up here in a while, so I think this works out perfectly for today's post. This is Purdy's first all acoustic solo album since "Julie Blue" back in 2004. Now before I talk about this album, I gotta talk a little about Purdy himself. He put out 2 albums last year, and recorded 3. This year he's recorded this one so far, and is about to record another in a couple months. Now, if that's not impressive, I don't know what is. Oh, and he records these albums all over the place (Paris, Los Angeles, New York, etc.). He's kinda like Sufjan Stevens in a sense, but releases new albums a little sooner than Stevens (it's been two years since Illinois!).

Well, this album was recorded in his home in Los Angeles last week. No, I'm not kiddin' ya - it was recorded last week, and will be released on iTunes next week. Now that's some crazy stuff! As unbelievable as that is, Purdy has done it, and all I can do is give him props for it. And when you hear songs like the title track, 'Canyon Joe', you can't help but be drawn into this album and his music in general. In fact, he kinda reminds me of Sanders Bohlke at times, especially when it's him and the piano, like on 'Only The Songs We Knew'. One of my favorites of the album, though, has to be 'Santa Rosa In The Snow':

My heart flies fifty miles ahead,
Underneath the bridge just out of sight,
She says 'neath the covers of her bed,
Where she leads for me to meet her in the night...

I love the harmonica part soon after this, which only pushes me towards Bohlke yet again. It's a beautiful album, and if you've enjoyed any of the other artists mentioned, I think you'll like Joe Purdy. So check out a couple of these tracks, and stream the album from his website in hopes that it may whet your appetite for the album out next week. And if you forget, don't worry, I'll post a link reminding you.

Joe Purdy - Santa Rosa In The Snow
Joe Purdy - Canyon Joe

Official Site | MySpace Page | Stream "Canyon Joe"