Terry Joe’s bio (Extended Remix)

Born and raised in Montreal to Portuguese parents, Terry Joe Rodrigues spent his childhood alternating between school in the city and summers at the family cottage in Pine Hill, Quebec.

His youthful experiences in the wilderness surrounding the cottage left a lasting impression and love for the outdoors which still runs strong. Ironically, it was the television program Hee-Haw, which happened to be the night’s entertainment on one of the only two channels available out in the country, which first inspired him with a love for the sound of a banjo.

Taking it upon himself to learn music on his own when in high shool, he began playing playing guitar. In college, he took up the banjo and mandolin. With no one to learn from or play with, it was only after a former high school teacher gave him Pete Seeger’s How to Play the 5-String Banjo LP and book that his obsession began.

In university, he began playing coffeehouses and bars and busking. In the tradition of Woody Guthrie, he hit the road, hitchhiking across the country in the pursuit of his love for making music.

In a formative moment at the Vancouver Folk Festival, he saw David Holt, the traditional, story-telling banjo player from North Carolina. Inspired, he decided to devote himself to the clawhammer banjo.

Along with his future wife, Virginia Paiano, he travelled extensively across Canada and the U.S. as the folk duo Cabin Fever. Seeking opportunities to pick at music festivals and gatherings, they encountered idols such as Doc Watson and Pete Seeger, and many others, whose signatures Terry Joe’s banjo skin now bears. This period produced a recording, Head For the Hills, which they sold independently.

When they went their separate ways, Terry Joe rediscovered his love for the outdoors, and spent the next ten years splitting his time between whitewater rafting and making music: his two joys in life.Love what you do and do what you love!
In his rafting travels, Terry Joe has found himself in such exotic locales as Brazil, Mexico and New Zealand. In these parts of the world, most people have never heard of a banjo, let alone ‘heard’ one, so Terry Joe found himself acting as an ambassador for the “five-string”.

He joined Sabotabby, an eclectic celtic/folk string band from Ottawa. Over a period of five years, they toured europe several times, and played at several of Canada’s most prestigious music festivals, including Ottawa’s Tulip Festival, Canada Day at the N.A.C., and Toronto’s NXNE. They also released two CDs, 1998’s self-titled debut, and 2000’s Celtibilly.

Terry Joe has also toured with the Yukon’s Fishead Stew, bringing their high-energy show across Canada and back up to the Yukon at the Frostbite Folk Festival in 2001. Another project saw him forming The Rocky Mountain Ramblers while in Canmore, Alberta during the summer of 2004.

Recently, Terry Joe was featured on the soundtrack to the Oscar-nominated, and Juntra Award winning animated short, Nibbles, by Acme Filmworks’ Chris Hinton.

Terry Joe now finds himself back in Montreal, adding old-time new banjo to the hot country rock of ,Desert Heat,where-in he can be heard plugging in his banjo into a phase-shifter pedal. He also reformed the Rocky Mountain Rambers, playing rock’n'roll on bluegrass insrtruments with some local musicians, and can be heard backing up the folk/ bluegrass vocal trio, Yonder Hill, featuring Angela Desveaux, Dara Weiss and Katie Moore.

He released his first solo CD, Mountain Calling, in 2005. Backed by several musicians that he’s had the pleasure of working with over the years, it turned out to be an eclectic blend of originals and traditional songs with T.J.’s banjo holding it all together. That summer, he also won the open audition for the Ottawa Folk Festival and earned the One-Fret-Less award and a spot at the festival.In 2007 he was nominated for a CCMA award in the all-star band specialty instrument catagory.
No one can say what the future holds, but one thing for sure is that wherever the road leads, Terry Joe will be there, with “a song in his step and a banjo in hand.”