Singer/songwriter Joe Bonfiglio (Joe B.) has been performing since his youth. He writes songs about his life experiences, but he also delves into literature, new and old, and film, television, and the news for his inspiration. His flatpicking style is unique, something he developed in his earliest days of playing solo, and he incorporates a percussive quality as well.
In his first incarnation, he sang, played guitar, and wrote songs for the group The DuCaines, who recorded a single for Atlantic Records.
In his late teens, he performed on the folk circuit, but also played with The Providence River Swimming Team (a jug band), touring the east coast and opening for acts including Sea Train, Laura Nyro, Boz Scaggs, and Paul Geremia.
When the band members parted ways, he returned to his career as a folk singer/songwriter, and recorded a demo album for RCA records while playing various NY and college venues like My Father’s Place and Stephen Talkhouse, opening for acts including Jonathan Edwards, Gordon Lightfoot, the Chambers Brothers, Livingston Taylor, Burt Summer, the Left Banke, and Kate and Alex Taylor
He continued playing solo for a number of years, performing in a variety of small New England venues, colleges, and corporate benefits. But from 1977 until 1990, he took a hiatus to leave New York and the music business to live in the Vermont countryside, where he raised two wonderful children and worked as an educator and a scholarly writer. But he never stopped playing. He also travelled extensively, living for periods of time in Washington, D.C.; Normal, Illinois; and St. Andrews, Scotland. While living in Scotland, he was a site manager for the STANZA Poetry Festival, one of the biggest such festivals in the world, and it was there that his desire to shift gears from prose to poetry was rekindled. Returning to songwriting was a natural progression.
He re-entered the music business slowly at first, playing a few gigs a year and rebuilding his performance chops. In 2009, he relocated from Vermont to Florida. He performs as a solo artist and since that time has played a variety of Florida and New England venues, festivals, and corporate parties.
His song "Hurricane" was included on the Noise Ordinance 3 compilation CD, and he is also being included on Noise Ordinance 4 with his song “Living All Alone with Just Myself.”
In 2014, he opened for Jonathan Byrd at Fogartyville in Sarasota, FL, and released a live EP of the show. His recording, “Third Time’s the Charm,” was released in January of 2014. His song from that album “Paint Me a Picture” was recorded by German band Sherman Noir and the Highway Surfers and released on their most recent album.
His next recording was called “Sidewalk Sidestep” and was released in January of 2016. He has had 3 songs in 2016 that have been in the Tropical Rock Top 40: “The Beach,” “ Back to Mexico” (which charted for over 5 months and went as high as #3), and “West Coastin’,” a duet with Darrell Clanton which made it to #1 in its third week on the charts in September of 2016. He was nominated as Trop Rock Vocalist of 2016, and performed at Meeting of the Minds, 2016. His song "Angels in the Sand" was #1 on the Trop Rock Top 40 for the weeks of 12/18/16, 12/25/16, and 1/1/2017, as well as being the #3 song for the month of Dec., 2016.
His current work includes the release of 2 CDs, an EP called Beach Americana and a full album called Live for Today, both released in September of 2019.
He has appeared on numerous radio programs, including The Florida Folk Show on WMNF, WSLR, AMI Radio, and Radio A1A Mornings with Wilson.
He currently resides in Madeira Beach, FL.
