10 Strange but True - facts about, you guessed it, Me !
In my impetuous youth I recorded two albums for RCA with a band called Jukin’ Bone. Whiskey Woman and Way Down East are either considered rare collectors items or a waste of perfectly good vinyl. ( or both! )
I played with rock’n’ roll pioneer Bobby Comstock ( I Wanna do it and Let’s Stomp ) and got to work “The Big Rooms” ( Madison Square Garden, The Spectrum in Philly, The Boston Garden ) with all the great vintage rockers ( Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard )
After Ronnie James Dio left his group ELF, the “left overs” reformed and asked me to be their singer.( So I didn’t have Ronnie’s vocal range, I was at least a foot taller than him! ) The results can be heard on A’LA Rock, Indulge, on Nibelung Records.
In 1982, my band “Joe Whiting and the Bandit Band” toured with Van Halen for 7 weeks on their “Diver Down” tour. ( Folks I dodged everything from D-cell batteries to whiskey bottles but again got to work “The Big Rooms” )
I teamed up with my long-time friend and song writing partner from the Jukin’ Bone days, Mark Doyle and recorded two cool albums for Greg Spencer’s BlueWave label; Good Rockin’ Tonight and Flesh and Blood.
After Doyle & Whiting left the band or the band left Doyle & Whiting ( depending on who you talk to! ), Mark and I formed a recording unit called Backbone Slip and on BlueWave released two bluesy albums Swamp Water and Avenue Breakdown. Both collections had songs placed in movies. ( Lest anyone think I’ve gone “Hollywood”, keep in mind that we haven’t been paid for either! )
In 1990 I figured it was time for a solo album so Greg Spencer and I produced Jumpin’ Joe Whiting, Rhythm ‘n’ Groove. Lo and behold, the record was nominated for a Grammy, “best contemporary blues album” and a song I co-wrote on the record was nominated for “best contemporary blues song”. Lest you think I got the “big-head”, no I didn’t win. In the words of Alfred E. Neuman, “What, me worry!”
In 1996, I’m honored by being inducted into the Syracuse Area Music Hall of Fame. ( unfortunately, it’s a non-paying position, so I continue to write and gig! )
In 1997, I’m honored again - Syracuse Area Music Awards 1997 SAMMY forĀ Best Songwriter Thank You !
Justin Wilde ( Mr. Christmas ) publishes a song that I co-wrote with Loren Barrigar titled Christmas ain’t like it used to be and immediately places it in NBC’s hit show, ER on their Christmas episode. ( And we get paid! )
The same incredibly perceptive Mr. Wilde places another version of the above mentioned song on the MCA label’s Blues and Soul Christmas! Joe Whiting alongside B.B. King and Charles Brown, have I died and gone to Heaven!
In 2001, Mark Doyle and I are honored by being chosen by the Syracuse Newspapers for a Post-Standard Achievement Award..
So there you have it folk’s as Joe Friday used to say “just the facts ma’am”