Early life and Big City Secrets Arthur began writing and playing music in his early teens, after inheriting an electronic keyboard from his aunt. At age 16, he played bass in a
blues band called Frankie Starr and the Chill Factor, which disbanded by 1995. Initially, Arthur sought to become a noted bass guitarist, stating: "I never started singing until I was in my early 20s. I remember thinking, 'OK – I am not a singer, I am a musician.' I wanted to be this like heroic bass player so I listened to people like
Jaco Pastorius, to
Bitches Brew over and over again. And then like
Nirvana came out and I was blown away and then I got into
Bob Dylan. Around that time I started playing acoustic guitar and realized I could actually write songs if I wasn't playing complicated bass lines." Arthur graduated from
Firestone High School in 1990 and continued developing his music. In the early 1990s, Arthur relocated to
Atlanta, Georgia, continuing to record home demos, playing local clubs and working as a guitar salesman at Clark Music Store. Arthur recorded his debut album at Gabriel's Real World Studios in England with producer
Markus Dravs (
Björk,
Coldplay,
Arcade Fire). The debut album
Big City Secrets was released worldwide in spring 1997, and Arthur joined Gabriel's
WOMAD tour in Europe. but went virtually unnoticed by the mainstream. Two years later, he recorded an EP called
Vacancy, which earned him a
Grammy nomination in 2000 for
best recording package.
2000–2003: ''Come to Where I'm From and Redemption's Son'' In April 2000, Arthur released his sophomore studio album ''
Come to Where I'm From, which was co-produced with T-Bone Burnett and Tchad Blake. The album exhibited a more polished and accessible sound, and received positive accolades from Pitchfork Media and Entertainment Weekly''. Arthur began playing for larger audiences, opening for
Ben Harper and
Gomez. During that same period, he released a promotional live album recorded at the Gypsy Tea Room bar in
Dallas, Texas. After releasing a series of four EPs called
Junkyard Hearts, which were only available to purchase at his live shows, his third album, ''
Redemption's Son, came out in May 2002 in the UK. The American release was delayed until November 2002 since Arthur had been dropped by EMI in North America, having been picked up by Universal Music Group imprint Enjoy Records. The double album furthered the themes of emotional and spiritual dislocation found on Come to Where I'm From'', and was described by
Allmusic reviewer Thom Jurek as a "sleeper hit". While on tour, Arthur regularly released recordings of his performances soon after each show. He also recorded an album with
alternative rock side project
Holding the Void, featuring himself on vocals and guitar,
Pat Sansone on vocals and bass, and Rene Lopez on vocals and drums. In Summer 2003, he toured with
Tracy Chapman in the US.
2004–2006: Our Shadows Will Remain Arthur signed a new recording contract with Vector Recordings and began recording his fourth studio album,
Our Shadows Will Remain across
New Orleans, New York City, London, and
Prague. The album was released in September 2004, and was Arthur's first album to feature string arrangements, provided by the City of Prague Philharmonic. The album was released to widespread critical acclaim; Allmusic's Thom Jurek awarded the album 4.5 out of 5 stars, praising that, "Arthur is in a class of his own and
Our Shadows Will Remain is a monstrous, memorable outing, his finest moment in a career that is thus far full of them."
The Guardian hailed that Joseph "might just be a genuine mad genius";
Stylus Magazine gave the album an A− rating; and Chris Rubin of
Rolling Stone named
Our Shadows Will Remain as the number 1 album of the year 2004 in the year-end critics' pick list. Arthur toured the US alone and with
Joan Wasser to promote the album, and a new EP called
And the Thieves Are Gone, which collected unreleased tracks from the
Shadows recording sessions, came out in December. Shortly afterward, Arthur went on a brief tour of Europe with
R.E.M. Our Shadows Will Remain was picked up by
14th Floor Records for distribution in the United Kingdom in 2005, which yielded the release of four singles: "
Can't Exist" in July, "
Even Tho" in September, "
Devil's Broom" in February 2006 to coincide with his first headlining appearance at London's
Shepherd's Bush Empire, and a
reissue of "Can't Exist" in May 2006, although none of the singles charted on the
UK Singles Chart. In August 2006, Joseph was invited to help launch the project A River Blue, where a group of young people in northern
Uganda were brought together to participate in a music, drama, and art festival. Joseph also recorded the song "A River Blue" for the foundation.
2006–2007: Lonely Astronaut Records, Nuclear Daydream, and ''Let's Just Be'' In 2006, Arthur started the record label
Lonely Astronaut Records with longtime professional partner Lauren Pattenaude. He released a book entitled
We Almost Made It, a visual collection of his artworks, along with an accompanying instrumental CD titled
The Invisible Parade in May 2006. In September 2006, Arthur released his fifth studio album,
Nuclear Daydream, which was recorded in
Berlin and Los Angeles. The album would be the first release on his new label. Joseph then embarked on a worldwide tour with his new backing band,
The Lonely Astronauts. His song "
In the Sun" was covered by
Michael Stipe of
R.E.M. and
Chris Martin of
Coldplay in 2006 for a
Hurricane Katrina relief EP. The EP includes six versions of the song, one featuring Arthur himself singing with Stipe and another remixed by
Justin Timberlake, and is available only on
iTunes. On March 26, 2007, Joseph's then-UK label
14th Floor Records released a re-recorded version of his 2002 song "
Honey and the Moon" as a special single in the UK only. In April, he released his sixth studio album, ''
Let's Just Be'', and embarked on an extensive US tour. This was Joseph's first album with The Lonely Astronauts; the band recorded as many as 80 songs in late 2006, with only sixteen appearing on the album. The album was released to lukewarm critical reception, with Pitchfork Media calling the album "unfocused" and "sloppy", summarizing that the album "sounds like it came together on the fly, in jam sessions that didn't stem from any kind of solid idea." In 2007, Joseph contributed vocals to the track "Aggro" from
The Ideal Condition by
Paul Hartnoll.
Temporary People and solo EPs (2008–2009) In 2008, Arthur released four EPs in a four-month span:
Could We Survive on March 18,
Crazy Rain on April 15,
Vagabond Skies on June 10, and
Foreign Girls on July 8. Regarding these releases, Arthur noted, "I have so much music piled up, like strange animals in a cosmic cage begging for release. The jails were overcrowded. I had to let some of them go." He played seven solo shows during the
SXSW 2008 Festival, six in
Austin and one in
Dallas. Live dates in Europe and an extensive US solo tour coincided with the new releases.
Temporary People, his seventh full-length studio album and second with The Lonely Astronauts, was released on September 30, 2008. The album was received warmly by critics, with
The Times Online stating that it "evokes the loose, rocking swagger and country melancholy of early-1970s
Stones", and
Crawdaddy! noting that Arthur "treats his audience to a brawny and brooding rock album, notching his most fully realized LP to date in the process." The album came out in Europe in late October, and afterward Arthur embarked on a solo tour and opened for
Tracy Chapman on her six-week "Our Bright Future" European tour, followed by tour dates in Canada. Arthur recorded a cover of
The Afghan Whigs's "Step into the Light" from their 1996 album
Black Love for the tribute album, ''Summer's Kiss: A Tribute to The Afghan Whigs
. Following UK tour dates with The Lonely Astronauts in July, Arthur embarked on a solo tour of France in October 2009. A reissue of his 2006 album Nuclear Daydream'' with six previously unreleased bonus tracks was released during this tour.
Fistful of Mercy, The Graduation Ceremony, Redemption City, and RNDM (2010–2012) Arthur,
Ben Harper, and
Dhani Harrison formed the
supergroup trio
Fistful of Mercy in 2010, and their debut album
As I Call You Down was released on October 5, 2010. Arthur's first solo studio album since
Nuclear Daydream, titled
The Graduation Ceremony, was released on May 23, 2011. In 2012, Arthur released a double album,
Redemption City, and collaborated with
Pearl Jam's
Jeff Ament in the band,
RNDM.
The Ballad of Boogie Christ (2013) In 2013, Arthur began using
Pledge Music to fund the release of his new studio album,
The Ballad of Boogie Christ. In a statement, Arthur noted, "With the music business being what it is nowadays, unless you break out big or become a license darling, there are precious few alternatives to fund one's work. Some say it's sad that it has come to this but I'm optimistic that new ways of doing things can lead to new forms of creativity and a smaller world community for artists to get to know their fans or for fans to become a more vital part in the process of artists creating their diamonds."
Lou (2014) Following Lou Reed's death, Arthur released an album of covers of his songs.
Days of Surrender (2015) Arthur's liner notes for the record are as follows: "I made this record mostly alone in my small studio in Brooklyn. Played all the instruments and sang all the songs, engineered it as well. Except for when I recorded the drums (And then Merritt Jacob lent me his expertise and enthusiasm. Nothing gets done without enthusiasm so thanks, Merritt.)"
The Family (2016) For this release, Joseph Arthur acquired a Steinway Vertegrand piano from the early 1900s, moved it into his Red Hook, Brooklyn studio and saved it from the storm (
Hurricane Sandy) by propping it up on cinderblocks, while the neighborhood flooded. He learned some of its history: the piano had been a part of the same family for a century, somewhere in Connecticut. Written entirely on that piano, The Family (Real World Records) is mostly a work of fiction and a meditation on the idea of family. The album was released June 3, 2016 to rave reviews.
Arthur Buck (2018) In June 2018, Arthur released
Arthur Buck, an album recorded with
R.E.M.'s guitarist
Peter Buck.
Come Back World (2019) 2019 saw Arthur release of full length solo album
Come Back World, on his own label
Moon Age Rebel - produced by Arthur and
Chris Seefried. The album features backing vocals from
Ben Harper,
Jesse Malin, Marley Monroe, and Morgan James.
"Stop the Shot" In 2021, Arthur released "Stop the Shot", a song that includes the lyrics "So take me uptown, baby / I don't want to make a fuss / And keep your graphene oxide out of me / Baby, I don't want to rust". ==Visual art==