Joe Robinson is a true force in the pantheon of exceptional artists in modern music. He has joined an exclusive group of elite performers whose impact continues to shape our unique American musical culture. With his popularity continuing to rise, Robinson has earned a reputation as one of the world’s greatest guitar players and a brilliant singer/songwriter. His fluid and inimitable style has delighted audiences around the world, garnering high praise and prestigious awards from the international music community.

Nashville, Tennessee has been Robinson’s home base for the last decade. He’s performed or recorded with a long list of celebrated music icons including Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Kenny Rogers, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Robben Ford, Keb’ Mo’, Les Paul, The Wailers, Styx, John Jorgenson, Lee Roy Parnell, and friend and mentor, Tommy Emmanuel, CGP.

Robinson was voted “Best New Talent” in the Guitar Player Readers’ Poll and his talents were further recognized by Guitar Player magazine as part of a cover story entitled “Youthquake 2017: Ten Mind Blowing Young Guitarists.” In the article, Guitar Player has called Robinson “equally mind-blowing as an acoustic fingerpicker and electric soloist…his YouTube videos display an astounding combination of taste, speed, cagey phrasing, and a clear, articulate, and sparking tone.”

Born and raised into a musical family in the Australian bush, Robinson began playing guitar when he was just nine years old, eagerly exploring the Internet to expand and deepen his craft. At the age of 13 he won the Australian National Songwriting Competition, and at 15 released his first collection of original material. A monumental achievement followed when he won first place on the “Australia’s Got Talent” television show, aged 16. It came with a $250,000 grand prize. By his eighteenth birthday Robinson had played more than 1,000 shows, and by the time he celebrated his twenty-fourth he had played over 2,000, an incredible total number of performances logged in a comparatively brief professional career. He has developed a worldwide touring career, performing across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, China, and his native Australia.

His live “one man” acoustic/electric show is an energetic display of virtuosity and witty, finely-crafted lyrics delivered with his personable Aussie charisma — he has songs inspired by George Carlin, Al Capone, a person he once picked up hitchhiking — and tells stories of performing in a California prison and growing up in a rustic farmhouse in backwoods Temagog, NSW (pop. 200).

Robinson has released seven solo albums, including The Prize (2022) and Borders (2020), to great acclaim. As is the case with many highly artistic people during the COVID-19 pandemic lock-down, Robinson has utilized his time to write, record and produce an emotional album titled Borders.

Robinson, an Australian native who has recently become an American citizen, became engaged to his fiancée, a graphic designer based in Canada, in October 2019. Although the couple knew they would continue to have a long-distance romance until her Visa came through and she could relocate to Nashville, neither anticipated the closure of the border between Canada and the United States because of the pandemic, completely eliminating any travel between their two homes.

“This is a collection of songs I wrote, some within the last year and some specifically about being separated from Genevieve during the pandemic—we haven’t seen each other in eight months now,” Robinson said. “I just felt I had some heartfelt songs bubbling up, and I was sure there would be other people out there who can relate. Being separated from loved ones is something I have dealt with for 10 years, having moved to the U.S. from Australia when I was 18. I lea all of my family back in Australia, but this felt like a different situation since we became engaged over a year ago and are so excited to begin a life together.”

Ryan Kress Berner will also join us this day.