MUSIC

Purdy's ready for a breakout

Joe Purdy
Joe Purdy

Joe Purdy would not say he is "purdy close to stardom," but others might say something along those lines.

Other performers, including Steve Earle and Billy Bragg, have found Purdy pretty ready, as have the folks who select music for TV shows like Grey's Anatomy and Lost.

Joe Purdy

Opening act: Brian Wright

9 p.m. today, George’s Majestic Lounge, 519 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville

Admission: $20

(479) 527-6618

georgesmajesticloun…

8 p.m. Wednesday, Juanita’s, 614 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock

Opening act: Brian Wright

Admission: $20 advance, $25 day of show

(501) 372-1228

juanitas.com

So it's looking promising for the singer-songwriter-guitarist and mandolinist who left Northwest Arkansas in 2001. He's back this week for a pair of shows -- tonight in his old stamping grounds of Fayetteville and Wednesday night in Little Rock, a place he reckons he has never played until now. Well, except for that "pop-up" show he did recently at Bragg's insistence at the White Water Tavern.

"That was really a great time, thanks to Billy," Purdy says. "He wanted to follow the route of the Rock Island Line railroad from Chicago, so we flew into that area and followed it loosely. We stopped at the Iowa state penitentiary and played a show for the inmates, and we did a benefit in Ferguson, Mo., to get food for the kids there that were not getting to go to school during the demonstrations there.

"The trip was good for the soul."

Purdy and Bragg and their other musician pals learned that the White Water Tavern was available for a show Aug. 21, so they dropped by there and found fans lined up outside the club waiting for them.

Purdy had met Bragg when Earle invited Purdy to the 100th observance of Woody Guthrie' birthday. Bragg and Purdy discovered they had several mutual friends and had been "kicked out of many of the same dressing rooms."

One of Purdy's songs, "Wash Away," was used in the first season of the ABC series, Lost, and then Grey's Anatomy used four of his songs in various episodes: "The City," "Suitcase," "Can't Get It Right Today" and "San Jose." He has released 13 albums since 2001, the most recent of which, Eagle Rock Fire, has an unusual background.

"We took an analog stance on it," he says with a laugh. "We made the recording on tape, mixed it on tape and cut the lacquer mastered from those tapes. Not only that, but we had all the computers removed while recording and mixing down the record. We didn't want any screens in the room."

As for his Northwest Arkansas origins, he points out that he was born and raised in the Hickory Creek area near Springdale and Beaver Lake.

"I played some sports while in high school, yes," he admits. "Some football, basketball and baseball, but then I got into guitar and grew my hair a little longer and coach didn't like that. So I went off to Southern California, and I've mostly been there, although I did come back for a spell when my dad had some stents put in his heart.

"I also needed a little more country in my life, and I had a place on the water near my folks for three or four years. But I went back out to L.A., it's been almost two years since I went back. I missed my band, so I went back."

He's taking his band on the road, he adds, so he will be backed by a pedal steel player, an upright and electric bass player and a sometimes drummer, Brian Wright, who will also open the shows.

Style on 09/16/2014

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