Joe Irrera

As a singer, songwriter, engineer and producer, my musical life has been defined by a series of epiphanies spanning a number of decades that amazes (and scares) me at how fast they've flown. These creative, direction-changing events were mostly inspired through my personal Top-10 of recordings (chronologically): 

#1) “I Want to Hold Your Hand” – The Beatles: This was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard blasting out of my little AM transistor radio (which, if I close me eyes, I can still smell it’s electronic parts as I held it to my ear). I didn’t just want to hear this song over and over. I wanted to take it apart to understand and combine it with my DNA. It made me want to play the ELECTRIC guitar. 

With my first ELECTRIC guitar! (Judging by the flannel shirt, I was already into CCR.)

#2) “Proud Mary” – Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR): By then I had that first electric guitar (the cheap green Encore above, which I often fell asleep with in my arms). I didn’t yet recognize the tight three-part harmony which made that chorus so infectiously sweet, but the chords were simple enough that I could actually play along with the record. I made the conscious decision to be John Fogerty. I grew my hair long and wore flannel shirts all through high school—even in summer! I started a band and most of our repertoire was CCR songs. I bought a cheap foreign knock-off of the black Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar I saw John playing in the movie, “Woodstock.”

Les Paul knockoff like the one I bought.

High School pic. Note the John Fogerty flannel shirt!

#3) “At Filmore East” – The Allman Brothers Band: The group actually made a tour stop at the state college in my little hometown of New Paltz as the last show before this legendary three-night stand in New York City. Most of my musician friends went. For some ungodly reason I chose to stay home. It’s still one of my greatest regrets. The next day at school, all my buddies could talk about was this guy named Duane Allman who played something called, “slide guitar,” which none of us small-town kids had ever heard of. Shortly after that Duane was gone in the tragic motorcycle accident. I spent my last year of high school practicing, wearing the grooves off this record like a teenager possessed, trying to recreate the beautiful blues Duane and Dicky Betts made. I had already bought a real Gibson Les Paul guitar (which I still play today). I scraped off the gold sparkle top and refinished the wood to make it look more like the sunburst finish I saw on Duane’s guitar.

That self-refinished Gibson Les Paul.

Me playing this guitar more than a few years ago.

#4) “Endless Summer” – The Beach Boys: While playing in a band in West Palm Beach, the drummer bought a copy of this double album. It was the first time I’d ever heard those amazing AM radio hits through a good stereo system and it overwhelmed in a powerfully emotional way. I bought some music paper and, relying on my self-taught ear, stayed glued to the turntable trying to notate the different vocal harmony parts on hits like “Fun, Fun, Fun”, “Don’t Worry Baby” and “Surfer Girl.” Out of sympathy, the drummer’s girlfriend—a classically trained pianist—showed me what a cool thing a “key signature” is on a music staff. This new nugget of knowledge saved me hours of time needlessly drawing sharps and flat symbols. More importantly, it led me to realize how ignorant I was about the music I loved. Within a year I had moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music. 

#5) “One of These Nights” – The Eagles: This remains my favorite Eagles album. I’ve always loved and been influenced by their tight country harmonies over solid rock ‘n roll, within beautifully written songs. “Lyin’ Eyes” helped open my mind to songs as storytellers. 

#6) “Dixie Chicken” – Little Feat: LA rock visits New Orleans—Allen Toussaint R&B funk; Lowell George singing and production; his and Paul Barrere’s unique style of slide guitar. “Fat Man in the Bathtub” alone, was a religious experience for me. 

#7) “The Royal Scam” – Steely Dan: Cool poetry over jazzy chord changes with rockin’, blues guitar. This album introduced me to Larry Carlton, which started my determined search for every record he ever played on (particularly, The Jazz Crusaders). I scoured used record bins throughout Boston—as well as devouring each of  Larry’s amazing solo albums. I practiced my absolute hardest to imitate his style and of course, bought a Gibson ES-335 guitar just like his. A Boston musician friend who happened to catch one of my club gigs back then, paid me the highest possible compliment: “You sound just like La-wee Cah-ltin!”

Me playing a Boston gig with that ES-335.

#8) “Bop” – Dan Seals: Hearing this amazing country-pop, synthesizer-driven sound out of Nashville, combined with my disillusionment at where pop music was turning in the late ‘80s, led me to make the big move from the Boston area. I made my first visit to Nashville at the encouragement of a great, unknown country singer, Ricky Lee Phelps. He’d been a patient ear for my fledgling attempts at writing country songs. I joined Nashville Songwriters Association (NSAI) and attended one of their symposiums. It was there that I got to meet several great songwriters—heroes whose names I recognized from between the parentheses under hit song titles on Billboard Magazine charts (including Paul Davis, who co-wrote this song). You can image how in awe I was. And… Coincidentally, on this trip I also earned my first Single Song Contract from a small music publishing company, giving them exclusive rights to pitch one of my songs to country artists! 

#9) “Pickin’ On Nashville” – The Kentucky Headhunters: Ricky Lee Phelps joined this little side-project with his brother and a some other touring musician friends, who were all backing up established country stars. When they began playing their own live shows they decided I should be their Front-of-House audio engineer(?!). I was told that decision was based on the sound of my home studio song recordings—some of which I had hired Ricky Lee to sing lead vocals on. (Music publishers mostly had a lukewarm opinion of my songs but always asked, "Who is that singer??") The band also trusted my ear enough to let me assist (just a little) in mixing this record which eventually went platinum. I mixed sound on a bunch of their club and live radio gigs—including the showcase that eventually got them signed to Mercury Records—and spent five years on the road as The Kentucky Headhunters won a Grammy, numerous other awards, and their second record, "Electric Barnyard," also went platinum. I remain eternally grateful for the audio engineering experience gained mixing sound in stadiums, arenas and theaters with some of the best production crews at the time. And… Experiencing night-after-night, one of the greatest, no doubt underrated rock n’ roll bands—a group of brothers, cousins and friends still recording and touring! 

The Kentucky Headhunters opening for Hank Williams Jr.  I'm mixing somewhere out there →

My platinum album award for helping with the mix on this record.

#10) “New Moon Shine” – James Taylor: Deeply moving, inspiring songs, James’ singing and playing at his best, with fantastic backing singers and band, perfectly captured within Don Grolnick’s pristine production. While I had been writing songs seriously for many years, this album led me to rethink and focus on what goes into writing great songs, as well as bigger subjects. I still use this recording as a template, trying to engineer every one of my own recordings to sound that good. “The Frozen Man” and “Shed a Little Light” remain two of those songs I wish I'd written myself—my most sincere songwriter-to-songwriter compliment. 

Over the years what has kept me in Nashville is the wonderful, essential support network of great songwriters who have maintained a tradition of passing down and paying forward the knowledge and creative gifts they've brought with them and further developed in this town. In appreciation of that, two mentors I've been blessed with are Jerry Vandiver—the first established, professional songwriter to take a serious interest in me and my work; and Jon Vezner, whose songwriting workshops and personal guidance on recording techniques have kept me pointed in the right direction.

With David McLean. Dad likes the music!

Singing my songs around town where ever they let me!

Any Open Mic is a good mic.