Smokin ' Guitar with Joe Robinson by Doug Doppler
photos by Mark Kimura , Kimura Productions
If you ’ re on Instagram chances are you saw some of the amazing clips Joe shot during soundcheck on his recent US tour opening for Tommy Emmanuel . A singer , songwriter , and guitarists ’ guitarist , “ Smokin ’” Joe Robinson has all the goods . When he was sixteen he won Australia ’ s Got Talent and bagged the $ 250,000 grand prize in the process . With over 2,000 concerts in twenty countries this twentyfive year old has more experience than most of us will get in a lifetime ! If by chance you haven ’ t seen or heard Joe play , we strongly encourage you to check out the companion videos for this story !
[ CG ] Considering you ’ re just twenty-five , you ’ ve already had a pretty amazing career . Tell us a bit about how you got started .
[ Joe Robinson ] I grew up in a very small town in Australia , and started touring when I was eleven years old . This has been my life , the fact that I ’ ve played 2,000 shows since I was eleven , it kind of tells my story in a way that feels like the most honest way to say it for me .
[ CG ] So , did you buy your mom a vacuum cleaner with the money you won from Australia ’ s Got Talent ?
[ Joe ] I ’ ll go you even one better ! My mom got a vacuum cleaner endorsement from a vacuum cleaner company !
[ CG ] So was that technically your first endorsement ?
[ Joe ] Actually , I had endorsements with Fender and Maton from age fourteen . I had a few guitar endorsements before the vacuum cleaner deal ( laughs ).
[ CG ] I think one of the things people love most about your playing is the fact that you play with incredible maturity , but at the same time in never feels like you ’ re holding back . Were there any things you did when you were starting out that contributed to this ?
[ Joe ] I hung out with a lot of older musicians who I learned from , and I made it a point to study great people . My parents played in bands , so I was around a lot of musicians . From the moment I started playing guitar I developed this thirst for understanding the instrument and learning as much about it as I could , and so when I would be around someone who was a guitarist and had been playing in blues and rock bands for thirty years , I would sit down with them and say , “ How do you do this ? How do you do that ? Show me a lick , and show me a chord that you like !” I was just so hungry to learn from people . I wasn ’ t shy about approaching people and asking if I could sit in , or asking if I could hang out and jam with them after the gig .
I look at someone like Tommy Emmanuel , who I just spent three weeks on the road with , and he ’ s been a mentor to me since a very young age . I have learned so much from being around him , and when I was on the road I realized just how much of my musical knowledge and understanding of music comes from what I
32 Jul � Aug 2017 CollectibleGuitar . com