Joe Pete is a guitarist and singer known for roots-based rock ’n’ roll jams. He leads a trio, 6is9, and also performs solo as 3’n1.
(The thing with numbers came out of first coming up with the name Six is Nine, which came out of goofing around and imagining talking to Jimi Hendrix and mouthing off and telling him that, in fact, six is nine. The nerve. Then Three ’N One came to mind as a related name for Joe Pete as a solo act. There’s a certain basis for the numerology; perhaps it does mean something after all.)
Joe Pete came into the world in Ohio, went to college in Maine (art major, junior year abroad in Paris), and came to the Boston area as a result of the effects of gravity. “I want to be a musician.” That was his business plan.
His first gig was in a country band on the John Penny circuit (the Blue Star, the Hillbilly Ranch, others). His first gig of note was with the great Sleepy La Beef. His tenure was too short, but he kept in touch over the years and was a frequent guest at Sleepy’s shows in the Boston area.
Joe Pete next tried to lead his own band, The Electrolas with Mickey Bones. Going nowhere fast, he was happy when Mickey started the Boogaloo Swamis (Cajun, zydeco, Louisiana music) and Joe Pete signed on as a founding member. A year later the two started playing Sundays at the Plough & Stars in Cambridge as the Hubcaps (a winning mix of roots rock ’n’ roll). The two bands ran concurrently and were both real favorites in their day.
Joe Pete currently heads up Joe Pete Jams which features him in the band or solo setting. Elements of all the above find their way into the mix. There’s rockabilly, country, blues, rock ’n’ roll of the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s; there’s Cajun and zydeco, and there’s jamming which comes from Joe Pete having been one of Jerry’s kids in high school and college.
Joe Pete has many influences but the ones that most directly shape his sound and music include the Grateful Dead, Sleepy La Beef, NRBQ, and Southern Culture on the Skids. Strong but slightly less direct influences include Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, & Duane Allman (of course), Bob Dylan, Bob Mould now and with Hüsker Dü, Bill Kirchen from Commander Cody, Muddy Waters, Junior Walker, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, & Parliament-Funkadelic, lots of Cajun, zydeco & New Orleans artists, lots of great rock bands, and Boston rock giant Eric Martin and his band the Neats.
If you like rock ’n’ roll, if you like the roots of rock ’n’ roll, if you like to have fun and get in the groove, then you are pretty much gare-on-teed to dig Joe Pete jamming—solo or with his band.
Come on down!