Joe Purdy

Joe Purdy stood alone in the fall of 2005 in Norway in the pouring rain. He had no money and no apparent way home. “Something needs to come through,” he said. This is when his attorney delivered the good news Purdy desperately needed: a national television show had called asking to use one of his songs on an upcoming episode, providing the necessary means for his trip home.

In 2001, after briefly working as a dockworker, Purdy left his hometown in Northwest Arkansas for Los Angeles, where he would eventually fall in with several singer-songwriters at the Hotel Café on Cahuenga Boulevard. Since then, the 25-year-old has independently released several albums including Joe Purdy, Sessions From Motor Ave., Stompin’ Grounds, and Julie Blue, and has received financial backing from Warner/Chappell after Senior Vice-President of A&R, Greg Sowders, saw Purdy perform at a small bar in Austin, Texas.

His new album Only Four Seasons is a collection of humble stories about girls, about little towns on the American highway, about drinking alone (or trying not to), about the energy of New York and the disappointment of Los Angeles. While the new album is his fifth record, it is his first with a full band and his first under a recent publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music.

While working at a private arts high school in Los Angeles, Purdy taught himself how to play the school’s baby grand piano. After writing an entire song on the piano, he realized this is what he wanted to do. Soon after, he recorded a 10-track self-titled album. Once this album was finished, Purdy continued writing and recording. The following year, Purdy released Sessions From Motor Ave. and, in 2003, released Stompin’ Grounds.

Since then his music has attracted the attention of J.J. Abrams, the executive producer and creator of ABC’S hit show “Lost,” who personally requested Purdy to write a song for the show from the perspective of being stuck on an island. Purdy, appropriately enough, was on a river island in upstate New York recording his album Julie Blue. “Here I was actually sitting on a river island right then, with no way to get off.” Purdy quickly recorded the song “Wash Away,” which was featured and played in its entirety on an episode of the show.

The song hit #1 on the iTunes UK country charts and on the top 25 on the iTunes US country charts. This opportunity brought about a significant change in Purdy’s career, bolstering his profile and exposing his work to a new and broader fan base.

Similarly the bulk of the material for Purdy’s new album Only Four Seasons arrived in a burst of creativity with 17 tracks written and recorded in a week with his L.A.-based band: lead guitarist Brian Wright, bassist Will Golden, Brandon Marquin, and multi-instrumentalist Al Segro. Initially, the album was intended to be a full-band, re-recorded collection of older songs. Yet after a little traveling and a few intimate experiences, Purdy changed course.

“The whole experience sort of reassured me that the way in which I make records is the best way for me, which is just to go in and record them right then and let it be a moment. That’s when I come up with my best results, when I just do that.”

Since the breakout of “Wash Away,” four other of Purdy’s song have been featured on ABC’s hit television show, “Grey’s Anatomy.” The band has also toured Europe with fellow singer- songwriter Tom McRae and continues to write and record on the road, most recently in London and Paris. Purdy is currently on tour with Blues Traveler and then selected dates with Dave Matthews Band. He has also been asked to join the Wireless Festival in England this summer with the likes of The Who and The Flaming Lips.

“It’s really the only answer for me,” Purdy says of writing music and performing live. “As soon as I wrote my first song, I just knew that was what I was gonna do. I just really don’t have a backup plan. I never did.”

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