Joep Pelt

Artist Description

Ever since he was fifteen, Joep Pelt (b.1979) has been playing pre-war guitar styles from the songster tradition of the early twentieth century. Songsters were musicians who played and composed in the different musical styles of their time, such as deltablues, folk, ragtime, country and murder ballads. Beside these traditional styles, Joep is also influenced by contemporary popular music, as he has played in several rap, pop and metal bands in the past. His father's extensive record collection, together with and enormous fascination for deltablues, made Joep to write songs in his own style.

Joep's first release was in 1997, when the National Pop Institute brought out the CD "Characters" on which he featured with two songs. The presentation of that CD took place at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, and was followed by a tour trough the Netherlands (Tivoli, Het Patronaat, De Kade, De Boerderij)..

In the late '90s Joep went to Mississippi several times, to play with Bluesmen like: R.L.Burnside, Willie Foster, T-Model Ford, Eugine Powell, Bud Spires, Elmo Williams, Hezekiah Early, Cedell Davis, Super Chikan Johnson, Sam Carr and Frank Frost. With the latter two, also known as the Jelly Roll Kings, Joep performed on the Sunflower Blues and Gospelfestival in Clarksdale. .

Back in Holland, Joep launched his debut cd "Blues from the Gaasperdelta" in 2000 at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. The following year, Joep returned to the North Sea Jazz festival, which ended up in a jam with Keb Mo', to pay tribute to one of his greatest examples in the blues: Robert Johnson.

After Joep graduated from the University in Amsterdam with a thesis on the devil in the blues, he worked with the Tropical museum in Amsterdam on their exposition "All about evil". For this exposition, Joep made a film about the devil in the blues, and gave a musical lecture on the same subject at the museum's theatre. The band Pelt played at the opening of this successful exposition..

Meanwhile, Joep is out playing at clubs and café's in Holland, and featuring on festivals like 'A Southern Bluesnight' in Heerlen, the 'Night of the Blues' tour, 'Rhythm & Bluesnight' at Oosterpoort Groningen, a Townes van Zandt tribute at W2 (Den Bosch), several 'blues- and music events' throughout the country, and three times on the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. After the French release of "Stick it in" in 2004, Joep plays shows in France on a regular basis..

In the summer of 2004, and the winter of 2005, Joep travelled to Mali, to learn guitar from artists such as Ali Farka Touré, Baba Salah, Lobi Traoré and Djelimady Tounkara. The influence of these musicians seeps through in Joeps new songs. .

This year he is due to release his second solo album "It is what it is" on the French independent label Bad Reputation Records (distribution Holland: Suburban).