HEADLINES

Average Joel® - It’s not your average concert for sure…

January 19, 2020
The man walks out, guitar in hand, sits on his throne and loudly asks "are you guys ready for a show?"  Not satisfied with the response he challenges " alright, I know you can do better than that- I said ARE YOU GUYS READY FOR A SHOW??!"
What follows is a show.  A real show.
There's great music. There's stories. There's jokes.  There's real heart.  It's a ride.
So to the music... Average Joel® is an all original Americana one-man-band.  He plays guitar while playing the drums with his feet and sings...all at the same time.  There's nothing electronic or artificial.  Not even a looper.  The songs are a mix of rock, old school country with a little folk thrown in the mix.  It's not your average touring band or singer songwriter act. Something else to notice.  The show is absolutely family friendly and still cooks! Really, Average Joel's show is far from the ordinary.

How do you manage to play the drums and guitar and sing all at the same time?
Just practice. One-man-bands are certainly out there.  Honestly it's not as hard as you think.  Most guitarists can sing and play at the same time- and are used to tapping their foot in time.  It just builds from that... with a lot of practice..

Your stuff is all family friendly. Is that important to you?
Yes.  I play a lot of different types of venues: from farmers markets to bars and clubs.  I want everyone who comes to my show to have a good time.   That's really what it's all about.

Is the story about you getting mugged in New York for a toaster pastry really true? 
Yes, all the stories I tell in my show really happened- including me getting mugged in Grand Central Station.  And I really do like frosted cinnamon brown sugar toaster pastries.

Why don't you use a drum machine or a looper? 
That's just me.  I'm an old school musician and I feel those things lack soul.  No dig against anyone who does use them.  I've seen some people do really impressive layering with a looper. It's just me and what I like to do.

How long have you been playing?
I picked up the guitar thirty two years ago. I've been a professional musician for twenty seven years.  I started out playing pit orchestras while I was in high school.  Over the years I've played in a few bands.  I've been doing the one-man-band thing for seven years now.

Why did you pick the name "Average Joel®"?  Why not something like Amazing Joel? 
The quick joke I always give to answer this is: because I believe in setting the bar reasonably.  Honestly, I just thought it was catchy.

How do you come up with your songs?  
I write when I have something to say.   Simple as that.  Like a lot of songwriters, you get an idea and you work on it.  Sometimes I'll work on a song for months.  Sometimes it just comes out and falls together in a few minutes.  Honestly I think my best songs were all written in a few minutes.

What else is coming soon? 
I'm actually going to put out a music video this year.  I'm crazy excited about it. It's for a song from the eighth album called "We All Bleed". I wrote that one for suicide awareness and prevention.  There's a lot of people out there dealing with depression.  I care about this a lot and if it helps even one person, that's really going to be worth all the work.  I just want to tell everyone that it's ok not to be ok, and please if you need help please ask.  We all need help sometimes.

Average Joel ® is Joel Kahn.  Joel comes to the stage with an hour and a half set of original, moving Americana music.  Basically take rock, country, and folk- put in a blender and serve with acoustic guitar and foot drums.
Joel is a singer / songwriter & one-man-band from Massachusetts.  He has released six Average Joel® albums: “Plan B” in 2014, “Apple Pie” in 2015, “Time to Roll” in 2016, "Barefoot at Union Station”, also in 2016, "Title Tracks" in 2017, and "American Troubadour" in 2018.
Joel's seventh album "Hold On" released on September 2019.

Though he was featured in recently released Lifoti's January/February 2020 issue 11, you can check it from below link's for your country:

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