Joe Krown is a resident and is based out of the city of New Orleans. He is a New Orleans styled piano and Hammond B-3 player. He has played the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage every year since 2001 and the French Quarter Festival every year since 1998. He has been nominated twice and won a New Orleans Big Easy Award in the Blues category in April 2001. His blues trio, Sansone, Krown & Fohl won a 2004 Big Easy Award. Joe’s third compact disc, Buckle Up, was picked #4 CD, “Best of 2000CDs” in the Times Picayune, and “Best CDs of 2000” in OffBeat magazine. Joe was also selected “Best Keyboardist, Editor’s Choice” at CitySearch.com for New Orleans. Joe’s fourth CD, Funkyard was picked #4 CD in Gambit Magazine and #15 in the Times Picayune “Best CD’s of 2002” and “Critic’s Choice Best of 2002” in Offbeat Magazine. Joe’s CD, Livin’ Large (2005) clocked in at #11 in overall sales for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2005. His trio with Walter Wolfman Washington & Russell Batiste Jr. won a 2009 Offbeat Award for “Best R&B/Funk CD” (Live at the Maple Leaf) and a 2009 Big Easy Award in the “Best Rhythm & Blues Band” category. In April 2014, he was honored with a Piano Legacy Award, presented by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and for being a “Master of Piano”. He is currently touring all over the U.S. and the world as the organ/piano player for the award winning Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band.
Joe held the keyboard chair with Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown & Gate’s Express from 1992 until Gatemouth’s passing in the fall of 2005. Joe is featured on the chart topping albums The Man, Gate Swings, American Music, Texas Style and most recently Back to Bogalusa albums. In 1995, Gatemouth and the Gate’s Express including Joe on keyboards, did a 62 date world tour as the opening act for Eric Clapton. The band, Gate’s Express won an Offbeat 2004 Best Band in the Blues Category. Joe is also featured in Gatemouth’s band on Carlos Santana’s Carlos Santana Presents Blues At Montreux 2004 (2006) DVD
From September 1996 to June 2001, he held the Traditional Piano Night slot at the Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans, which was once occupied by Professor Longhair and James Booker. Joe followed that strong tradition with his debut solo piano release Just the Piano…Just the Blues (1998), the follow-up CD, New Orleans Piano Rolls (2003), and his latest solo piano effort, Exposed (2012). Joe released one piano trio CD in 2007, Old Friends, a New Orleans styled boogie woogie piano trio. Joe has been a headline performer at WWOZ’s Piano Night during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival every year since 1997. As of Labor Day 2001, Joe and the Traditional Piano Night moved to Le Bon Temps Roule in New Orleans. In November 2003, Joe made his German debut as a solo piano performer.
Joe’s been the house piano player at the famous Brennan family restaurant, Ralph’s on the Park since January 2006. He is the featured piano player for the Friday night Piano Professor’s series at Irvin Mayfield’s Playhouse since 2009. Joe performs solo piano shows several days a week around New Orleans in places like Le Bon Temps Roule, the Rivershack Tavern and Dos Jefes Cigar Bar.
Joe Krown formed the Joe Krown Organ Combo (New Orleans, LA) in 1999. The Joe Krown Organ Combo made its European debut in November 2001 at the Ingolstadt Jazztage in Ingolstadt Germany and made regular appearances at the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the Ottawa Blues Fest from 2000 until 2005. The band performed every week at one of the many New Orleans nightclubs, including the Maple Leaf Bar, House of Blues, Tipitina’s, Le Bon Temps Roule, dba, and the Funky Butt. The Joe Krown Organ Combo released 4 CD releases. Down & Dirty (1999), Buckle Up (2000) and Funkyard (2002) were all released on the New Orleans label STRdigital. The Joe Krown Organ Combo’s last release was Livin’ Large (February 2005). It was also Joe’s first independent release as producer.
In June 2000, Joe started playing around New Orleans with Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone (harmonica, vocals) and John Fohl (acoustic guitar and vocals) in an acoustic delta blues trio featuring Joe on piano. Sansone, Krown & Fohl made their New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival debut in May 2001 and has also performed at “Rivers Festival” in Columbia South Carolina. In April 2004 Sansone, Krown & Fohl released thier first self-titled CD on the Shortstack Records label. Sansone Krown & Fohl won a 2004 Big Easy Award in the blues category. This trio performs every month at a variety of New Orleans nightclubs.
In the fall of 2007, Joe was invited to be a feature artist in the Solid Blues Tour. The tour was a 38 U.S. city tour in October and November 2007 and it featured Mavis Staples, Charlie Musselwhite, the North Mississippi All-Stars and Joe. Joe performed a 20 minute solo piano set featuring music from his latest CD Old Friends, and then he joined the North Mississippi All-Stars backing up Mavis Staples and Charlie Musselwhite.
In the spring of 2007, Joe started playing every Sunday night with Walter Wolfman Washington (guitar & vocals) and Russell Batiste Jr. (drums). It features Joe playing Hammond B-3 organ where Joe plays all the bass parts on the organ. The Sunday nights were so successful that the trio released a live CD, Live at the Maple Leaf (Oct. 2008). Live at the Maple was produced by Joe and will be the first live CD in Joe’s catalogue. Live at the Maple won a 2009 Offbeat Award for “Best R&B/Funk CD”. The trio also won a 2009 Big Easy Award in the “Best Rhythm & Blues Band” category. In the fall of 2010, the Trio released Triple Threat (Nov. 2010), the follow up to Live at the Maple Leaf and their first studio CD. The Trio was the feature band for a 3 week tour called “New Orleans Nights” (Nov. 2010). The band had a set then they backed up Grammy Award winning artists Nicholas Payton and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Allen Toussaint for a 15 city Northeast Tour. The Trio’s latest and 3rd release Soul Understanding (May 2013) is a collection of 10 original songs by the band and 2 cover songs. Soul Understanding charted as high as #13 on the national JamBand Radio chart.
After the untimely passing of the legendary great Allen Toussaint in November 2015, Joe was selected to fill the maestro’s chair by playing piano with Toussaint’s band backing up greats like Bonnie Raitt, Aaron Neville, Irma Thomas, Dr. John and more at the 2016 New Orleans Jazz Fest, Hollywood Bowl, Midsummer swing at Lincoln Center and more.
In May 2017 in addition to being a headline performer for the 29th annual WWOZ Piano Night at the New Orleans House of Blues during the 2017 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Joe was selected to be the producer for the event. As producer, Joe put together a great show featuring 10 of the best local New Orleans piano players including Marcia Ball, Ellis Marsalis, David Torkanowsky, Tom McDermott and John “Papa” Gros. The event, titled WWOZ Piano Night–Back to the Roots was one of the most successful fundraisers for WWOZ in many years with a near sell-out crowd.
In June 2017 Joe joined the two time Grammy nominated, platinum record selling Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band as the full time piano/organ player. The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band is a headline act on the modern blues scene and Joe is touring with the band all over the U.S. and the world.
Joe has performed with Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Johnny Adams, Marcia Ball, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, C.J. Chenier and Marva Wright. Joe held the keyboard chair for Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown from 1992 until Gate’s passing in 2005. As the keyboard player in Gatemouth’s band and as an artist, Joe has shared the stage with superstars like Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Kim Wilson, Ike Turner, Jimmy McGriff, Melvin Sparks, George Porter Jr., Buddy Guy, Niles Rodgers, Shemekia Copeland, Paul Shaffer (David Letterman Show), Lenny Picket (Tower of Power, SNL band), Sonny Landreth, Dr. John, Albert Collins, Joe Sample, Irma Thomas, Kenny Neal, Frankie Ford, and many others.
Joe has recorded with Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Luther “Guitar Jr.” Johnson, Jumpin Johnny Sansone, Kid Ramos (guitarist from the Fabulous Thunderbirds), Bobby Charles, Raful Neal, Marva Wright and many other New Orleans artists. Krown has eight CDs out under his own name, three CDs with Walter “Wolfman” Washington & Russell Batiste Jr. and one CD as member of Sansone, Krown & Fohl. As a member of Gatemouth Brown’s band, Krown is on Carlos Santana’s Carlos Santana Presents Blues At Montreux 2004 (2006) DVD.
Joe made his acting debut in the HBO series Treme. He did a scene in Season 1, episode 4; “At the Foot of Canal Street” (air date 5/2/10) and Season 3, episode 5; “I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say” (air date 10/21/12). He also has music from some of his CDs featured on the show. Moore Women Shuffle (Piano Rolls) was featured in “Meet De Boys on the Battlefront” (air date 4/18/10) and All That and Then Some (Exposed) was in “I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say” (air date 10/21/12). Joe can also be seen in several episodes of the TNT series Memphis Beat and the Deniro/Stallone movie Grudge Match (2013).
