Joe Cryle------------Joe was born and raised in Brisbane. The son of a prominent Brisbane songwriter, he grew up in an extremely musical household, and by his mid-teens was extremely familiar, though not obsessed, with the work of Neil Young and Paul Kelly as well as more obscure names like John Gorka, Patty Larkin and Kristina Olsen. His first real encounter with any kind of stringed instrument came at the relatively late age of eighteen when a less than hectic Bachelor of Arts study schedule and a long summer of cricket gave him the opportunity to pick up his father’s underplayed banjo. Regrettably, the banjo playing has progressed little since 2003, though the gift of a solid metal slide given to him in 2005 has seen other similarly tuned instruments such as the Dobro, Lap Steel Guitar and Pedal Steel Guitar have been given considerably more attention.

Nepotism aside, Joe has had the thrill of playing pedal steel and dobro on Mark Cryle’s 2008 release House of Cards. In late 2009, Joe and his father toured as a duo around Victoria and perform occasionally around Brisbane. He played and recorded with American turned Australian singer songwriter Seth Plunkett, and played steel, dobro and banjo on Big Plans- the debut EP for Plunkett’s Melbourne-based group, The Rosannas. Joe also makes up one third of Driftwood with the fraternal rhythm section of Brad and Simon Wright. Driftwood played with Brendan Talay (of Corn Liquor fame) at the 2010 Tamworth Country Music Festival.