Once in a blue moon, a musician comes along who’s able to cross mediums effortlessly as he delivers a thoroughly modern touch to songs that existed decades before he was born or creates new tunes that fit seamlessly into what’s come before.
That’s the case for Joel Paterson, guitar master, vocalist, songwriter and one of the very bright lights in the world of American roots music. One of the most fluid, stylish pickers on the planet, Joel’s versatility is beyond compare.
Paterson is a titan on Chicago’s music scene and one of the busiest musicians on the roots music scene today. He can be seen all over Chicago playing with icons, cult heroes, jazz greats, blues legends, honky tonk revues, and back-bar bands The Western Elstons, The Modern Sounds, The Joel Paterson Organ Trio featuring Chris Foreman, and many other Chicago-based projects. You can often spot him climbing scales within the smoky confines of historic Chicago jazz club The Green Mill, or bringing out his honky tonk chops at Simon's or The Empty Bottle.
Depending on the evening, you might find him playing straight-ahead 20s acoustic blues, but you might also run across him in the top jazz joints in the Windy City, too. Look elsewhere, and there he’ll be, playing honky-tonk, jump, rockabilly, country or Western swing, too. Look again and he’ll even be playing pedal steel.
His history as an in demand sessions musician includes work with Pokey LaFarge, country artists The Cactus Blossoms, rockabilly and roots star JD McPherson, mod-pop mavericks The Insomniacs, roots artist Rachel Ries, Canadian acoustic blues guitarist Steve Dawson, Milwaukee blues harp legend Jim Liban and hot jazz keyboard player Carl Sonny Leyland, among others.
Paterson's trio includes some of Chicago’s most versatile session musicians, Beau Sample on upright bass and Alex Hall on drums. Collectively they spend time playing and recording with a variety of local and not-so-local musical-types including JD McPherson, Pokey LaFarge, Robbie Fulks, The Fat Babies, The Flat Five, The Western Elstons, The Cactus Blossoms, Chris Foreman and a host of other notables.
