About Joe

My name is Joe Wright and I started playing steel guitar in October of 1963. I’ll never forget my first lesson. I showed up at the studio in Michigan Center, Michigan and I saw Kenny Leach. He taught Plectrum Guitar, Accordion and Hawaiian Guitar. I had already seen him play his Triple Neck Fender Stringmaster and had chose that insturment when I was asked what I wanted to learn. They made me wait until I was 8.

The first class was me and 6 grownups. We were all given an acoustic guitar with the nut raised. Kenny went to each person and bent the finger picks to fit. Mine were painful but I’ve gotten used to them over the years. We were given a Stevens Bar and some Oahu sheet music and off we went.

I never looked at the music but at the next lesson I volunteered to play “I Want Some Red Roses For A Blue Lady”. Only 4 of the older students showed up the next week and within a month I was the only one left.

I went through all of the Oahu sheet music by the time I was 11 and quit playing until my Step Father started a show called The Country Schoolhouse Jubilee. It gave young people a chance to perform. I started out on the spotlight and soon decided that I could be as good as the rest of the acts I brightened up.

I drug my Double Neck National out and played “The Steel Guitar Rag” at the next show….

When I was sixteen I saw Paul Franklin play at Frontier City in the Irish Hills of Michigan and I was hooked on the pedal steel guitar. He was demoing Sho Buds and I bugged my parents until I got my first Pedal Steel. It was a D-12 Marlen with 10 floor and 1 knee. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I soon was in a band and that started me on the long road that brought me where I am today.

I played 5 years with Trilly Cole Band, 10 years with Charley Pride Band, 1.5 years at the Old Dominion Opry and since 1995 I’ve ran Joe Wright Productions. I specialize in the Pedal Steel. Instruction with DVD’s, CD’s, Tablature, and more.

My lastest venture is shooting pedal steel instruction with 8 cameras and editing them onto a DVD with multiple angles and audio selections. I also give Skype Video Lessons and do Live WebCast online.

I now live in Monticello, Georgia with my wife Connie and her son Kyle. I have one daughter named Harmoni and a grand-daughter, Joslin.