Joseph Arthur is prolific American singer-songwriter and artist from Akron, Ohio. He is best known for his solo material, and as a member of Fistful of Mercy (with Dani Harrison and Ben Harper), RNDM (with Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament) and his collaboration with REM’s Peter Buck for the album Arthur Buck.
Arthur has built his reputation over the years through critically acclaimed releases and constant touring; his unique solo live performances often incorporate the use of a number of distortion and loop pedals. Arthur is also an accomplished painter and designer. His artwork has appeared on all of his releases, with the sleeve design for his 1999 album Vacancy being nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.
Arthur was discovered by Peter Gabriel in the mid-1990s, and signed to Gabriel's Real World label as the first North American artist on the label's roster. Arthur released his debut album, Big City Secrets (1997), and follow-up, Come to Where I'm From(2000), on Real World before signing with various independent labels between 2002 and 2006. Real World reissued an anniversary edition of Come to Where I'm From in 2020.
He established his own record label, Lonely Astronaut Records, in 2006, and released two studio albums, Let's Just Be (2007) and Temporary People (2008) with backing band The Lonely Astronauts. Arthur subsequently returned to performing and recording as a solo artist, releasing The Graduation Ceremony in 2011 and the double album, Redemption City in 2012.
Without a label, he reached out to fans on the Pledge Music crowd-funding site and realized 170-percent of his financial goal. The end result was his "psychedelic soul" record, The Ballad of Boogie Christ, which was released in June of 2013. The following year, Arthur released an all-acoustic tribute album of Lou Reed songs titled Lou.
A sojourn in Mexico with Arthur's friend Peter Buck, guitarist with R.E.M., led to them writing and recording a batch of songs together. Calling the duo Arthur Buck, they released their self-titled debut in June 2018.
In 2019 Joseph self-released the full length album Come Back World on his label Moonage Rebel. Arthur has been steadily releasing new tracks independently in 2022 as well as hosting Joseph Arthur & his Technicolor Dreamcast on TNT radio.
