Josh Joplin Group
City Winery Boston presents Josh Joplin Group w/ special guests Valley Lodge live on October 2nd at 7:30pm
If you were ever called upon to argue the case for popular music as art, a Josh Joplin Group album would make a solid Exhibit A. That verdict belongs to critic Jason Warburg of The Daily Vault — and it's the kind of thing that tends to follow Josh Joplin around. Quietly, persistently, the way a reputation earned over three decades tends to do. Legendary artist manager Russell Carter, who has guided the careers of Indigo Girls and Matthew Sweet, puts it more simply: "I am willing to bet Josh has written a bad song, but I can tell you I have never heard one."
The Daily Vault called his recent return "everything longtime fans could have wished for: charming, whip-smart, artful and uncompromising." Spin described GpYr (2025) as "a collection of pop-infused gems that captures the raw energy of Joplin's earlier work, paired with the musical and lyrical depth of an older, wiser songwriter." Spain's Dirty Rock Magazine called it "ideal for spring listening, with strong melodies and an overall sense of optimism" — a reminder that the audience for this music has never been merely local. GpYr was produced with Grammy-winning producer Lorenzo Wolff and features several Useful Music-era collaborators alongside Joplin's daughter Lomie, who plays lead guitar and shares vocals on the album's emotional centerpiece, "Before the Light Takes Us."
Joplin grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and later Columbia, Maryland, dropped out of school in the tenth grade, and spent the better part of two years living out of a VW van — road-educated wandering inspired by William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways. He busked his way through it, made a brief stop in New York City, landed in Atlanta, and eventually assembled the core of what would become Josh Joplin Group. By 2001, "Camera One" — produced by Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads — had become the first independently released single in the history of Billboard's Triple A chart to reach number one. The song reached the Billboard Top 40, appeared on the breakthrough first season of Scrubs, and sent the group onto the stages of Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Late Late Show, MTV, and VH1. Useful Music sold half a million copies. The band toured the world.
The critical language that attached itself to Joplin's work during those years has proven durable. Paste called him "part Armed Forces, Elvis Costello, with Woody Guthrie's bent for storytelling, but with a voice all his own." Americana Highways called his recent work "charming and still innovative music, with enough kick and sweetness to be irresistibly catchy" and heard in it "the sophistication of XTC." Through a run of records that includes The Future That Was, Jaywalker, the folk-leaning collective Among the Oak & Ash — whose Verve Records debut with Garrison Starr drew praise from Vanity Fair, WNYC's John Schaefer, NPR, and Bob Harris's celebrated BBC program The Country Show, and has accumulated millions of streams — and Devil Ship, now with hundreds of thousands of its own, Joplin earned a reputation for work that never stays in one place long. His song "Blue Skies Again," recorded by Jessica Lea Mayfield for her Nonesuch debut, was named iTunes Song of the Day and downloaded over a million times.
After stepping back to devote himself to parenting — and producing two feature films and writing and executive producing Boys Clap, Girls Dance (dir. Dena Springer), which won Best Animation at the Chicago Underground, World Cinema, and Queens World Film Festivals — Joplin returned with Figure Drawing (2024), originally conceived as the final unreleased Among the Oak & Ash record and quietly released under the Josh Joplin Group name, where it drew that career-best response from Geoffrey Himes. GpYr followed, and now based in Chicago and releasing music on his own NarrowMoat imprint in partnership with Missing Piece Records, the work continues without pause.
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Valley Lodge is the best rock band basically. You might know them from their wildly popular song "Go," which serves as the theme song to HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver."
Valley Lodge has recorded three albums and are currently recording their fourth incredible album. When not recording hot rock albums, the band has found time to tour Japan, where they are considered geniuses, and also serve as the house band for Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. Additionally, the band's music has appeared in such popular television programs as "Raising Hope," "Cougar Town," "Camp," and more.
Dine At Your Show(opens in a new tab)
(opens in a new tab)🍽️ We provide food and beverage service directly to your table in the venue. Or, for an expanded menu and more relaxed experience, arrive early and enjoy a meal in our restaurant before the show. When dining in the restaurant, reservations are encouraged and can be made via Resy starting one month before the show. View Our Concert Dining Menu.(opens in a new tab)
2 Item Per Person Encouraged
🎶 While we do not require a two-item food or beverage minimum, we strongly encourage it. Most ticket revenue goes directly to the artist and production costs, so food and drink purchases help support the staff, service, and atmosphere that make these intimate shows possible.
The good news: we think you’ll love the food and wine just as much as the show.
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