Joe Kellogg Bio

“Words and music are my monkey
My name is Joe, I’m a Songwriting Junky”

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I perform original songs almost exclusively. I figure when Willy Nelson and Paul McCartney cover my songs, I’ll cover theirs. I play at open mics and small venues in the Denver/Boulder area when I can.  I have made tens and tens of dollars in the music business, but the friendships, experiences and memories have been priceless. 

I wrote nearly all the songs on this web site while in my 60’s, starting in 2008.  In that sense, I can truthfully say my music is “60’s music”. Although written by a sexagenarian, I hope the songs are relatable to all generations, as they were inspired by events from my entire life, not to mention by a lot of sex.  

Songwriting has been, for me, a journey to my deeper sub-conscious. As in Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, I sometimes get chased back up to the surface by scary monsters. When song ideas come to me, they often seem like beautiful visions gifted to me by lovely muses. I won’t know until I start singing to friends if it’s just a load of steaming crap. It’s a trial and error process, and though I might get chased out of songwriting circles for testing the limits of decency, I learn and move on. 

If you like the musicianship of these recordings, the credit goes mostly to my friend, mentor, and musician extraordinaire, “Peter Burg”. He takes my raw wooden songs and spins them into fun and infectious sounds. Nearly all the great guitar leads, bass and drum arrangements you hear in this web site are his. 

Thanks also to “Jeff Wahl”, who plays lovely acoustic guitar on 8 of the cuts on “Where Do We Go from Here – The Softer Side of Joe Kellogg”

Coming soon will be an entire set of songs with “Lonesome Rolan”, who brings a whole new interpretation of many of my best songs. Our CD “Joe Land” is almost ready. The fully orchestrated version of the song “Joe Land” was entirely produced by him with Garage Band using his amazing key board skills. 

The beautiful female voice on 3 cuts of The Softer Side of Joe Kellogg is that of the ravishing “Amanda Barnett”. She began doing vocal demos for me when she 18 and I was 33 back in Pacific Palisades, California, in 1981. She was a totally enchanting wonder of nature, but she was too young for me and I ended up moving back to Colorado. We lost track of each other for 26 years and then, through the magic of the internet, we reconnected. At 46, she was an established psycho-therapist who still sang like an angel, but now she was too old for me, (and besides I was married). I journeyed several times to California to record with her again. Her voice still takes my breath way. 

I don’t expect to make any money on this site. It would be my reward if even a few people discovered JoeLand17.com and developed a taste for my music. I am happy to make the experience free. If you like the music, share it. I’d love to hear back how the experience was, on my blog page.