Joe Campobasso, aka Joe The Bluesman, is a traveling one-man blues show. Born in 1954, he grew up in Huntington Beach, CA and as a teenager was a bass player in a rock band. After he finished school though, he put music aside to raise and support his family. After many years as a successful construction manager in Las Vegas overseeing multi-million dollar projects, but with music still very much in him, he walked away from his career and started a new one as a full-time musician.
Three years later, he now travels all over the country performing regularly. He also recently released his first album, an EP titled Seasons, and is planning his first full-length album as well.
The Crafty Musician Blog is proud to feature Joe the Bluesman in this month’s edition of Artist Spotlight…
Tell us a little about your music. Are there certain subjects you like to write about? What inspires you to create music? What do you hope to give to others as a musician?
The music I create is definitely American! I love world music and the British stuff. My favorite music is probably the Roxy Music, Eno, Bowie genre! But, when I pick up the guitar American Blues Folk music comes out!
I’m inspired by almost anything, really…current events and the things I see on the road are most prominent song subjects. I play and write because I must. It is what I want to do every day all day. My poor wife is so understanding!
I am not sure what I want others to get from my music. I offer up my heart when I play, I hope that I move the listener in some fashion, hopefully positively. One thing I watch for is feet tapping. Yea, when the feet are tapping I know I’m getting to them.
What types of shows do you do and how do you go about getting booked?
I am currently doing a one man blues show, electric guitars, but I am incorporating much more acoustic guitar into the show. I send my EPK unsolicited to venues. Typically, once I know what region I will be in, I start looking for venues on Reverbnation and Google searches. I find the venues phone number and I try to reach out to the venue to find out who is doing the booking. Then I send the EPK and a short email to that person. If I can’t get a name I send to the venue in care of the entertainment director! Give ‘em a title! What I do not do is rely on Reverbnation’s system. I find the venue then find it on the internet and do my research.
I understand that it was initially a challenge to get booked as a one-man electric blues act. How have you overcome that challenge?
Yes, I think it has been and continues to be a challenge for a one man electric blues show. Most venues expect a one man blues to be acoustic. So, I’m working the acoustic into the show, maybe acoustic will be the prevalent guitar in the near future. Traveling as I do, it is very difficult to put a band together, but I am working towards that end. Currently, based out of Little Rock Arkansas, I’m meeting with and playing with players to put a touring band together. Little rock is ideal for the tours I would like to do, it is near Memphis, Nashville, Kansas City, so on. What I am looking for is players that can get to the gig on their own, dependability is as important as musical chops. Musicians can be flaky, sorta part of the personal make up of talented people, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
I have and will continue to sell myself as the perfect “TWEENER” a musical act to fit in between the main acts at festivals. I can set up and strike my stage very quickly and take very little room…the perfect tweener! Being in the RV I would like to emphasize festival gigs.
I will say things are more positive. When I first sent EPKs to venues, it would go into the void. I never heard back. But, now I get replies and if the dates I’m indicating are not available, I am getting dialog. So things are looking up in this regard.
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One more thing about doing more acoustic in my shows, is that I am more suitable for things like Gigmaster, so this may influence my direction.
I see that you initially had to step away from music about 20 years ago to support your family. Was that hard to do? Did you step away from music completely or were you still writing and/or playing in some way?
Oh no much longer ago than that! In the late eighties I went back to college and jumped 100% into studies. I still had my guitars but found myself unable to really play, I had blocked my creative self for my scholarly self, sorta, that is how it felt. So I didn’t play or write in this period. I had sold my vintage guitars at different points to get rent money! I met my wife and did the family thing until late 2000! At that time the kids were older, I was established in my career, building casino and restaurant interiors in Las Vegas, so I had a bit of spending money. That is when I went to see King Crimson at the House of Blues in Mandalay Bay Hotel. Well I was a construction manager of the hotel so I had some contacts which got me front row balcony! That was it, within a couple days I had me a new Strat and a Marshall amp! There has been no turning back.
So you travel all over the country in your RV. Do you live in your RV full-time? What’s that like and do you travel alone or does anyone else go on the road with you?
It is my wife, a dog, cat and me! I love it, We love it! We are able to spend times with the family, have grandkids now! We tend to spend time at places. Gas can get expensive so we will land in a place and often stay a while. We really love the RV parks in Nashville southern charm and the ones we use are easy to get downtown. But, I can’t think of any city we didn’t like. We do prefer the Midwest and southern towns as the people are so friendly, while the west coast RV parks get very pricey.
How do you make your money as a musician? Do you do anything else besides music to make money? How do you deal with financial uncertainty that comes along with being an independent artist?
Ha! the $60,000 question (pun intended). Make money playing music, that is a goal, not the primary. Like I said earlier, making music is something I have to do. But, I am making some money nowadays. Believe it or not primarily from digital radio, and YOUTUBE as well as downloads and CD sales. I, like everyone else am trying to learn the new music industry landscape. I, am only moderately digital literate, so I get help as I need it.
I retired the day job a few years ago because Las Vegas was dead, no construction jobs, I had a good rep, so I was considered to be over qualified in a weak job market. It was tough, so I pulled the trigger on the social security. So I do have that as a basic income. The music income is a plus, I tend to reinvest it back into my music. But since the great recession, Vegas is booming, so my old boss has hired me to work remotely, on the cloud, reviewing the project estimates and so forth. I work a couple hours a day and that brings in some additional income to keep the whole thing going.
How long did it take you to become a full-time artist and what was that process like? What was it like the day you quit your day job?
Well, I was working my way, musically towards that end for some time, so when I stopped going to work, I had been laid off due to lack of work, I spent that extra time on my music. So for me, it was not really a step, it worked out the way it did. Having the plans to do music full time, it was not a tough transition when it happened.
I understand that you made some bad decisions in your career that you’ve had to overcome. Can you elaborate on some of those and how you redirected them?
YES! I tell you, I was my worst enemy in this regard. I am cynical by nature so I never wanted to hire PR firms, managers, anything. I suspected they were all out just for money and I could do what they did. WRONG! Sure there may be scams, but once I gave in, I’ve been fortunate, in my experience, pros can really help the career. I did spend money doing showcases and the like, not moving forward at all. Now I am working with Chris Keplinger at Entirely PR. He has not only put me in the right direction but educated me. Before working with him I had no plan, no program, no understanding who my audience is. He helped me with that so much, now I focus on a demographic and the results are so much more fruitful. The other change is if I like it, I move forward on it. Before I would sample a tune to people, if they didn’t like it, I would abandon it. Now I know there are so many people, so many tastes, so, if I like it, I do it!
Where do you see your art going next? Do you have any exciting projects coming up you can tell us about?
Very excited about releasing a new single mid-August. It is a cover song, my first. I am covering the U2 song that Johnny Cash covered, ONE. I really like the song and like how my cover came out. I am also working on the next album, I plan to do a whole album rather than another EP. Part of the plan is to have the touring band assembled to be part of that recording. Deciding on songs and the sort right now. Hope to release first of next year. However, I just did a few acoustic recordings, Dylan style, me a guitar and a mic! I may decide to release an acoustic EP. It would be part of the transition to do more acoustic in live shows. Interestingly, is it living in the south these days or what, but I am definitely becoming more country in what I am generating. Probably a product of the acoustic guitar as much as the natural surroundings.
What advice do you have for artists looking to take the plunge into being full-time musicians?
Get a team together. Know your audience. Sounds obvious but it really isn’t. We all just want to play and sing, but get the business team together. Listen, in my construction career, I managed million dollar projects as much as 30 million in a few states at the same time, I did it well. But music isn’t construction, get a team that knows where to point you. You will be glad. At least that is my advice.
Where can we find you online?
Thank you for asking. My web page is joethebluesman.com (of course!). You also can find me on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. There is also Joethebluesman on Soundcloud and Spotify. In fact my tunes are at all typical digital outlets. Look for Joe the Bluesman.
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