Joe Chow is a musician who, in his own words, is hard to define. He has been hailed as a ‘Chinese Jimi Hendrix’ due to his beguiling guitar skills, but such comparisons – even to greats such as Hendrix – fall short in doing justice to the sheer individuality and creative breadth of his music.

Listening to him play, the seminal influence of blues is unmistakeable, yet he has never played purely 12-bar blues. Early performances featured songs by Hendrix – and indeed he plays with as much superior technical ability and charisma as the great man himself, ripping into solos that were faithful to the iconic songs and yet still, somehow, entirely his own. Since then, the years have seen him develop in a unique direction, taking the blues of the cottonfields of the Deep South and transposing them onto the wild grasslands of Sichuan and Tibet to create hypnotic, ruminant interpretations of the regions’ folk music.

Joe’s life has also been as interesting as his music; he has worked at China’s CCTV TV station, and opened his own factory in Macao, to be followed by a bar, restaurant, and finally a stint working in real estate. After a car accident in Shandong which left the vehicle totalled and almost cost him his life, he took up music full-time, forming his own band 2005 and virtually disappeared from any public performances for the year it took him to make his first album, which was finally finished in September 2007.

No longer a regular feature of the Melting Pot’s Monday Night Live Jam Session, Joe is now performing less and when he does, it’s usually on nationwide tours around the country. Nonetheless, we strongly advise you to take the time to experience his music next time he’s playing in town！