Kenny Joe Blake was a wanderer long before he fell into the life of the singer /songwriter. He could best be described as a man with an extremely colourful and diverse background. Learning to play the harmonica as the result of a bet at 17, Kenny Joe started playing guitar in '75.
During the early 90's Kenny Joe began playing and writing in the Roots Country scene, where he teamed up with the late, great A P Johnson.
Kenny Joe's repertoire encompasses contemporary country, down-home blues, R'n'B, rockabilly, cajun, rock and roll, bluegrass, traditional Australian folk, as well as a lot of strong original material.
The originals include the triple 1998 Grammy Award nominated song "Who Drove The Mystery Train, recorded in Texas by expatriate Aust/NZ legend Peter Caulton. Peter reckons Kenny Joe is a "national bloody treasure", and Peter's record label, 'Bear Family Records' in Germany, call Kenny Joe "a master songwriter". Peter's latest 'Bear Family' release, "Raining On The Rock", contains 3 more of Kenny Joe's songs.
A strong, soulful singer, and an adept guitarist and harmonica player, Kenny Joe is quite the troubadour, telling some very amusing anecdotes between songs, and is easily approachable from an audience point of view.
Late in '98, became a member of 'Terra Australis', then known as Fowlhouse Jack, who went on to win the 1998 Fosters Bush Band of the Year, in Tamworth , with Kenny also picking up the "Outstanding Performer Award". Their first CD "Terra Australis", featured Kenny Joe singing three of his songs.
Sept 2000, "Capricorn Rain" made No 4 on the Australian Top 30 Country Singles chart, without any promotion. Mid 2004 and it is still receiving airplay on the ABC and 4AAA in Brisbane. 'Terra Australis', the 2002 National Bush Band of the Year, recently released "The Rum Of Reason" CD, containing 4 more fine Kenny Joe originals. One of these, "Darling River Darling", took out first place in the Australian Independent Country Music Awards, in the Heritage / Traditional song section, at the 2002 Mildura Country Music Festival.
Recently a song he wrote with his good friend Kenny Ray White, "Take My Dog For A Run", was recorded and released on Slim Dusty's final album. "Now that's an honor worth waiting for," he reckons.
