Joe is "old man" of Highway 70. He is single again, but is engaged to a wonderful woman named Suzy, who also took most of the pictures on this site. He has two grown sons, Joe and Jason, ages 30 and 27. He started learning how to play guitar in 7th grade. Watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, he knew that this is what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.
In 1966, he was on his first record album with a group named "The Eggs" doing "My Little Red Book",on the now famous "Hillside 66" Album. From there he went on to play guitar in the group "The Nomads" thru most of High School. He then switched to playing keyboards and was in the group "The Draft" for 4-5 years. This group was a nine piece band with a horn section doing songs from Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears. After a few years away from music he was asked to join the country band "Crosstown Traffic" sometime in 1985. He switched instruments again, this time playing bass guitar. This group recorded a single "It's Been Love" that got a little airplay here in the Columbus area. That lasted until the early nineties until that group disbanded and the band "MESA" was formed. In 2002, a few of the members from "MESA" left that group and started "HIGHWAY 70".
If you are wondering what kind of bass equipment Joe uses, he has a Ibenez SR-405 5 String and a Peavey 5 string . He plays out of 2 Hartke 4.5XLs with a Hartke 3500 Amp in a rack with a Korg Strobotuner, and a POD Digital Bass Processor. He also has a Ampeg B115, and a SWR Workingman's 15 and a Hartke 300 Combo used at smaller gigs. Other 4 string bass guitars include a white headless Steinberger XQ-4DB Guitar, a 62 Re-Issue Fender Jazz bass , a Yamaha Fretless, a Steinberger XL-2, a Jay Turser Beatle Bass Copy and a Danelectro Longhorn Bass. He also owns a 91' Rickenbacker 360-12FG, twelve string guitar and a 91'Rickenbacker 4003FG Bass. You never know what you will see Joe playing. His next new thing is to play some bass lines on a Roland Bass Synthesiser and maybe even a upright bass..
