BIOGRAPHY

Joe Giltrap was born and raised in Leixlip, in what was then a small village by the banks of the river Liffey in Co.Kildare, and began his music career with local group The Rye Folk prior to joining top recording Dublin folk group The Broadsiders.

Moving to London in the early seventies Joe teamed up with fiddler Malcolm Rogers who by chance had just arrived from Belfast. As Irish Mist the duo went on to dominate the London Irish music scene inspiring younger acts like The Pogues. Over the years they recorded five albums plus several singles and shared the concert stage with all the top Irish folk acts like Christy Moore, The Furies, The Dubliners, De Dannan etc. earning gold and silver discs for contributions to best selling compilation albums.

In 1987 Joe opened The Weavers, the much loved and respected music venue in London. Voted one of the top ten music venues in London by Time Out magazine it played host to the cream of the world's roots artists and released three much acclaimed compilation albums on it's own label before finally closing it's doors in 1999.

Having devoted much of his energies to The Weavers Joe found little time for his own career apart from the occasional concert and appearances on BBC radio in London. In 1994 he released a cd Where There's Life, which received enthusiastic reviews and extensive airplay. One radio station in Belgium voted it their 'album of the year' and one track was chosen as part of the soundtrack for the film The Innocent Sleep. From 1994-1997 Joe appeared on several compilation albums including Ireland's Greatest Love Songs (which featured one of Joe's own compositions The Years just Roll By) and The Greatest Irish Album Ever for which he received a silver disc.

In 1999 Joe released a new cd The Soldier's Tree to enthusiastic reviews. It featured fifteen original compositions written or co-written by Joe thus further enhancing his reputation as a songwriter.

2000 saw the release of The Mountains Of Mourne and a hectic touring schedule in Britain, Italy, Iceland and Germany. He also managed to fit in a small acting part in the film Conspiracy of Silence.

In 2002 Joe was the male vocalist on the chart topping Celtic Chillout album which included one of his own compositions and the follow up Celtic Chillout 2 included four of Joe's recordings. These recordings led to a contract with N2K and a new cd Irish Charmer which featured songs chosen by the record company from the works of various artists including Neil Diamond, Bruce Springstein, Ewan McColl, Paul Brady, Lennon & McCartney as well as two of Joe's own songs. A hectic promotion tour of radio and TV appearances in Ireland followed.

2002 also saw the release of 'As Down The Glen' Vol 1. This project was dear to Joe's heart as a keen student of Irish History. It featured material covering the long and troubled Irish struggle for Independence.

Summer 2003 saw the release of another new folk album Distant Memories and another busy round of radio stations and live dates in Ireland. An article written by Joe about his tour was published by The Irish World newspaper, which led to Joe contributing regular articles to the newspaper.

2004 started with a lifetime achievement award from The Irish World for services to Irish music. Joe continues to gather fans worldwide as his music spreads through radio in Ireland,UK, Australia, USA and Canada.

2005 saw Joe's album The Mountains of Mourne' re-released by N2K with three extra tracks making a super 18 track album.

Joe also released a cd single entitled The Bravest.' This is a song written by one his heroes the American Folk Legend Tom Paxton just 13 days after the 9/11 atrocity in which 2792 people lost their lives. It was written about the 343 New York firemen who gave their lives that day and whose numbers included so many Irish names. Tom Paxton joined Joe on this recording.

2006 saw the release by Rajon Records in Australia of The Soldier's Tree CD with The Bravest added as a bonus track. This followed radio play and regular requests for his material.

By popular request 2006 also sees the release of 'As Down The Glen' Vol 2 with at least one more Volume in the pipeline.

Joe also writes a weekly column as well as featured articles for the London based Irish Post and is currently preparing to release a new single for Christmas.

Watch this space!