Joey Gilmore
Joey Gilmore
Joshua (Joey) Gilmore, was born in 1947, in Ocala, Florida, USA. After teaching himself to play guitar at an early age, Gilmore began performing in public with a small band of like-minded youths. At first, he played and sang in church, his repertoire largely religious music, but gradually incorporated secular music and thus widened his audience although he and his band’s club dates were usually in establishments they were too young to legally enter.
In the 60s, Gilmore moved to the southern end of his home state where he became a popular figure on the local blues scene and was often called upon to accompany visiting musicians, as well as leading his successful bands and recording along the way. He recorded from the mid-70s, releasing some EPs and there was also a late 80s album but it was not until the early 90s that his recordings began to appear regularly. Gilmore has appeared at numerous blues and/or jazz festivals, including Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Mississippi Valley, Montreux, Riverwalk, Taiwan, and at the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, where he appeared in 2006 to great acclaim, winning the Best Band division
His love affair with the guitar began in his teens. "In the town that I lived in, there was a barbershop," Joey Gilmore reminisces. "And the barber that owned the shop was a sanctified preacher. He was a minister, and he had this little flat-bodied guitar. It was electric, with no amplifier to it. And he would bring it to the shop with him, and he was trying to learn how to play. So, I would get to the barbershop early whenever I would go to get my hair cut, or even after school, I would hang around at the barbershop, because I wanted to get my hands on that guitar. I would take the guitar and they had these old wooden benches. I would lay the guitar on top of the wooden bench and when you would strum the strings, the wood, the bench, would vibrate, and the floor would as well, the sound would resonate, and you could hear it without the amplifier. I learned just from watching him." Young Joey Gilmore tried to keep his obsession with the instrument from his church-going aunt, who was raising him, but word of the talented boy who played at the barbershop eventually got back to her. She finally heard him play with his group at church and was moved to tears. "She went straight to Sears and Roebuck and bought me a brand-new guitar," Joey Gilmore says. "It was a Kay, I think. And from that, we started learning other songs, other music besides church music. And that didn’t sit too well with her. But when she finally accepted that we could make money, that we could make a lot on a weekend, though we weren’t old enough to be in the bars without parental supervision, she would go with us. And she would sit at the door and take up the money for us." Decades later and established as a Florida legend, Joey Gilmore provides a highlight at Blues Festivals and clubs proving he’s one of South Florida’s best soul-blues singers while wringing blue notes out of his guitar. Joey Gilmore's career has spanned 40 years with performances throughout the United States and Europe. Joey Gilmore has called South Florida home for the past twenty years. Joey Gilmore is a true Blues and R&B master who incorporates new and varied styles in his music performing original compositions mixed with traditional standards in his high-energy live show. His tenor/baritone vocals belt out tunes with a loss abandon reminiscent of Blues Legends from the 1940s and 1950s. This Bluesman's major influences are apparent without sacrificing his unique style. Artists Joey Gilmore has shared the stage with include James Brown, Etta James, Bobby Bland, Little Milton, Johnny Taylor, and numerous others.
In January 2006 Joey traveled to Memphis to compete in The International BLUES Challenge. This is the most distinguished and internationally coveted award in all of blues. The Joey Gilmore Band outscored all bands worldwide while showcasing his amazing talent at a blues industry event as the best-unsigned band on the planet. Joey is proud to represent the BLUES FOUNDATION as the winner at every sponsored event, being an ambassador of the BLUES for the Foundation and Blues Community. In 2008 Joey was awarded the Blewzzy award for best song, "ALL OVER YOU".
(Joey Gilmore at 17th Annual Poconos Blues Festival 2008)