From humble origins in New South Wales, Australia, Joe Robinson emigrated to Nashville, Tennessee, at 18, found success beyond his wildest dreams and then eased into a quiet life in rural Montana. At 32, the acoustic virtuoso has accrued a lifetime’s worth of musical memories in a short span. He became immersed in music when he started playing piano aged six, moving to guitar when he was 10.
“I felt like it was my instrument,” he says. “I could take it wherever I wanted, and I became determined to figure it all out.” He figure it out – and by the time he was 11 he’d made some famous friends.
“In Australia, Tommy and Phil Emmanuel are very famous,” he says. “It’s a small music community; a musician from my town heard me play, gave me Phil’s number, and I connected with them at the Tamworth Country Music Festival. “The Emmanuel brothers were so generous and encouraging.
Phil said, ‘Joe, most kids are listening to Limp Bizkit crap, and you’re playing Eric Johnson and Jerry Reed.’ When I saw him and Tommy play, it was life-changing – they were the greatest players I’d ever seen. I was determined to figure out how to play like that.
” It didn't take long. By 13, Robinson had won the Australian National Songwriting Competition. “I went to the US at Tommy's invitation,” Robinson recalls.
“To get there, I borrowed $10,000 from my grandparents – which I paid back. “I went door-knocking on Music Row in Nashville. I met industry executives .