Joe Henry

Infobox musical artist

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Name = Joe Henry
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Background = solo_singer
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Origin = United States
Instrument = Vocals, guitar
Genre = Alt-country, folk, jazz, soul
Occupation = Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer
Years_active = 1986–present
Label = Profile, Mammoth, ANTI-
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Joe Henry is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer.

Biography

Henry's first albums, including "Talk of Heaven" (1986) and "Murder of Crows" (1989), introduced his facility for songwriting but tended to be overburdened by their production values; they passed into obscurity after attracting some mainstream and industry attention. His sound, which thereafter has avoided easy pigeonholes, then veered toward what was then emerging as "alt country". This period's emblematic artifacts are the critically noted "Short Man's Room" (1992) and "Kindness of the World" (1993), which shared members of the country-rock band the Jayhawks.

1996's "Trampoline", his sixth LP, began to explore the stylistic dynamism that has characterized his later albums. "Trampoline" employed metal guitarist Page Hamilton (who demonstrated his own eagerness to stretch by collaborating on the album) and created a breadth of style one reviewer called "idiosyncratic broadmindedness". [http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=joe_henry]

"Fuse" (1999) continued Henry's experimentalism with its trip hop shadings. One review of the album states that "Fuse" has "real weight, emotion and beauty that is both unmistakable and unforgettable". [http://www.inkblotmagazine.com/rev-archive/Joe_Henry_Fuse.htm]

"Scar", released in 2001, was seen as a breakthrough: Henry's evocative songs had only traces of his early career's country sound, and the band on the record consisted mainly of jazz musicians (Marc Ribot, Brian Blade and Brad Mehldau among others), including an appearance by saxophonist Ornette Coleman—in a very rare cameo—who steals the show on "Richard Pryor Addresses A Tearful Nation."

"Scar" earned very positive reviews, including one by Allmusic's Thom Jurek, who wrote that Henry "has moved into a space that only he and Tom Waits inhabit in that they are songwriters who have created deep archetypal characters that are composites—metaphorical, allegorical, and 'real'—of the world around them and have created new sonic universes for them to both explore and express themselves in. Scar is a triumph not only for Henry—who has set a new watermark for himself—but for American popular music, which so desperately needed something else to make it sing again." [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:8d17gjtr36iv~T1]

In 2001, Henry sang on the song "Alleluia" from Julia Fordham's album, "Concrete Love".

2003's self-produced "Tiny Voices", his first on Epitaph's Anti label, inspired more praise from reviewers. Reviewer Jurek described the album as "the sound of Hemingway contemplating the Cuban Revolution with William Gaddis, the sound of Buddy DeFranco and Jimmy Giuffre trying to talk to Miles Davis about electric guitars in an abandoned yet fully furnished Tiki bar in Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles." [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:4pklu3uaanxk~T1]

Henry produced Teddy Thompson's 2000 album "Teddy Thompson", a critically acclaimed album from the son of British folk legends, Linda Thompson and Richard Thompson. Henry also produced Solomon Burke's 2002 album "Don't Give Up On Me", which won Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 2003 Grammy Awards. 2005 releases produced by Henry include Ani DiFranco's "Knuckle Down", Aimee Mann's 1970s concept album "The Forgotten Arm", and Bettye LaVette's "I've Got My Own Hell to Raise".

He also produced the multi-artist album "I Believe to My Soul", which featured Allen Toussaint, Mavis Staples, Ann Peebles, Irma Thomas and Billy Preston.

In 2006, Henry teamed with Toussaint, producing his collaborative album with Elvis Costello, "The River in Reverse".

In September 2006, Joe Henry and his longtime hero Loudon Wainwright III began composing the music for the Judd Apatow movie "Knocked Up". Snippets of instrumentals were used as background score for the film, but the full versions of the songs make up Wainwright's 2007 album "Strange Weirdos". Henry produced Mary Gauthier's 2007 album "Between Daylight and Dark".

Joe Henry's 10th LP, "Civilians," was released in 2007 on the Anti label.

Personal life

Henry has been married to Madonna's sister Melanie Ciccone since at least 1985. [http://www.icebergradio.com/artist/6501/joe_henry.html] Henry's wife talked him into letting her send Madonna a demo of his song "Stop", which was reworked and recorded as "Don't Tell Me" (from Madonna's 2000 album "Music"). Henry's own tango-tinged version of the song appeared on "Scar" and was featured in an episode of "The Sopranos". Henry and his sister-in-law recorded a duet, "Guilty By Association", on the charity album "Sweet Relief II", and collaborated on the songs "Jump" on "Confessions on a Dance Floor" and "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You" on "Hard Candy".

Discography

*"Talk of Heaven" (1986)
*"Murder of Crows" (1989)
*"Shuffletown" (1990)
*"Short Man's Room" (1992)
*"Kindness of the World" (1993)
*"Fireman's Wedding" (1994, EP)
*"Trampoline" (1996)
*"Fuse" (1999)
*"Scar" (2001)
*"Tiny Voices" (2003)
*"Civilians" (2007)

External links

* [http://www.joehenrylovesyoumadly.com/ Joe Henry] official website
* [http://www.queendork.com/joehenry.html Joe Henry] fan site
* [http://amplifiermagazine.com/reviews/cds/joe_henry_cd.php Review of Joe Henry's "Civilians" album]
* [http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934744.html?categoryid=1266&cs=1 Review of "Civilians" album from "Variety"]
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