Today we’d like to introduce you to Blind Joe.
Hi Blind, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Hi. My name is Joseph Bommersbach a.k.a. BlindJoe. I was born three months premature on July 14, 1982, with a 2% chance of survival. As a result of my premature birth, my retinas didn’t attach leaving me totally blind, but by the grace of God, nothing else was wrong with me. I started singing and playing guitar when I was three years old because of my grandpa Bob.
He turned me on to guys like Hank Williams and Merle Haggard. He was one heck of an accordion player and I loved listening to him play and sing. I kept hounding him to teach me, so he finally bought me a $20 guitar from seers and roebuck and taught me how to play flat top with a slide. We would jam together all the time in my parent’s basement rocking everything from hank and haggard to old-school polkas and waltzes. When I became a teenager, I decided to teach myself how to play with my fingers in standard tuning. My buddies and I were listening to bands like Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, and Pantera at the time, and I knew I couldn’t be a rockstar if I was playing with a slide. after graduating high school, I went to college in Arkansas and started playing in the honky-tonks to make A little spending money.
I got bored pretty quickly playing cover songs so I started writing my own stuff and to my surprise, people seemed to really enjoy it so I kept at it. After I finished school in AR, I went back to ND And started trying to get my name out there any way I could. For the next few years, I played lots of bars and had the pleasure of jumping on a couple of tours as well. My biggest break came in 2015 when I was selected to be a contestant on season nine of The Voice. I made it to the knockout rounds, and since then, I’ve spent the majority of my time writing and continuing to tour. in 2019 I moved to Nashville and played the honky-tonks for three years, but I realized quickly that I didn’t fit with what the record labels are looking for so my wife and I moved back to Minnesota to be with family. I’m still writing, recording, and playing shows all over the country and that will never change… Music has always been and always will be my life!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I think my biggest challenge has always been alcohol. I struggled with it ever since I started playing professionally, but I’m happy to say I’m almost 4 years sober now and I’ve never felt better.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
On my musical journey I’ve had the pleasure of opening for some of my heroes and people I really look up to including Travis Tritt, David Allan Coe, buddy guy, Bret Michaels, Steve Perry, Craig Morgan, And many more.
How do you define success?
Success to me is being able to make a living doing what you love while staying true to who you are.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.blindjoe.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/theblindjoe
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/theblindjoe
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/theblindjoe
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/blindjoemusic
