About

Joe Pisapia is a singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work as a member of Guster and k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang. He co- produced and co-wrote Guster’s 2006 release, Ganging Up On the Sun, an album that cracked Billboard’s Top 25 and was one of the best selling internet albums of the year. He did the same on the band’s 2010 Easy Wonderful. He produced and penned the title track for Lang’s 2011 album, Sing It Loud, and acted as music director for the accompanying tour.

As a producer and mixer, he’s worked on some of the finest indie rock and pop and Americana records to come out of Nashville in the last few years. Among his credits are: Ben Folds Five’s The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind, The Hush Kids (Self Titled,) Zac Clark (Self Titled,) Drew Holcolmb And The Neighbors’ Medicine and Souvenir, Chuck Mead’s Free State Serenade, Josh Rouse’s Love In The Modern Age, Courtney Jaye’s The Exotic Sounds Of Courtney Jaye, Matt Wertz’s While We’re Becoming, William Tyler’s Lost Colony E.P. and Paper Hats, The Silver Seas’ Alaska and ThePierces’ self-titled album. When the Grammy Award-winning band Fun. needed orchestral recording for its Grammy performance, they called on Pisapia.

Born and raised in Rahway, New Jersey, Pisapia migrated to Nashville in the mid-1990s with his brother, the drummer Marc Pisapia, as the namesake members of Joe, Marc’s Brother. Following its Rick Clark- produced self-titled debut, the band quickly became progenitors of a burgeoning indie pop and rock scene that included artists such as Josh Rouse, David Mead and Lambchop. In 2000, the release of the Robin Eaton, Roger Moutenot and Brad Jones-produced Around the Year with Joe, Marc’s Brother cemented the band’s reputation as masters of the pop-rock genre. While Joe, Marc’s Brother as a unit now performs infrequently, Pisapia continues to record and perform as a solo artist.

His 2002 release Daydreams was given four stars and called “stellar” by AllMusic.com. Ron Sexsmith called 2015’s Nightvision, “amazing” and the “best thing” he’s “heard in a long time.”

In 2016 Pisapia collaborated with singer/ songwriter Kate York for the duet E.P. “Kate York And Joe Pisapia.” The song “All My Worry” was featured in the 2016 “Magnolia Mix Tape” vinyl release. 2018 was a watershed year for Pisapia as he released two full length solo albums. “Connection” was released in February, and “Cosmic Christmas” launched in November.

2019 was an eclectic year of creativity and musical output. In early 2019 Pisapia recorded his first instrumental album, “Imbolc.” For his 2020 release of the album, he made music “videos,” which consisted of him making some of his favorite comfort foods. Pisapia produced much of, and mixed all of Pam Tillis’ “Looking For A Feeling.” Tillis cut Pisapia’s song “Better Friends,” which was originally released on his solo album, “Connection.” NPR’s Ann Powers singled out Tillis’ version of “Better Friends” calling it a “quintessential country song.” In 2019 Pisapia produced Jillette Johnson’s “It’s A Beautiful Day And I Love You,” which NPR’s All Songs Considered wrote; “New songs deemed absolutely essential by the NPR music staff.” In late 2019 Pisapia was part of the live ensemble whom recorded the album “Outside Child” by Allison Russell, produced by Dan Knobler. The album was ostensibly recorded live in three consecutive days. Pisapia recalls, “To be there, in those musical moments, in real time, was tantamount to a holy experience.”