Shakey Joe Kambic

Shakey Joe Kambic plays guitars made from cigar boxes. He plays some originals in his set mixed with his passion, early Delta Blues.

Around the age of nine, Joe received his first accordion lesson. It was an instrument his father played and one common to his Croatian heritage. Sometimes Joe is heard to say that we all know that harps are handed out when you get to heaven. But in hell they hand out accordions. Jokingly, he reports getting a head start on eternity at a young age.

In a few short years, accordion lessons evolved into organ lessons. He took what he learned and moved to the piano and discovered that he could play by ear many popular songs from the 60s and 70s.

It wasn’t until after he moved to Denver, Colorado in ’72 that he picked up his first guitar. With both the guitar and a piano in his residence, he started writing love songs. Most of them were love, some of which were played at his wedding.

While in Denver, he was fortunate to have met the piano player for the Platte River Jazz Band, from whom he took stride piano lessons. That musical style can be heard in his first recorded song “Waitin’ For The Light To Change (Blues).

It was during those years in Denver, when he first heard Johnny Long perform at the Prairie Schooner in Larimer Square. He had no idea at that time that they would become friends decades later. Through his employment as a painter, he met and worked for Rich Ruoff in Lancaster. He worked the front door as a doorman when Rich opened Chameleon Club. Many years later, Joe asked Rich to book John Long at the Lancaster Roots and Blues Festival.

After returning to Lancaster in 1980, there were decades when Joe stopped playing music. It was in 2019, while volunteering as a main stage loader for the Roots and Blues Festival when he was introduced to cigar box guitars, specifically made by Stan Opiel at Mudboy Guitar Works.

After looking into the history of the instrument, it became obvious to him that he needed to learn songs from the later 1800s and early 1900s. He strives to share, and thereby preserve, the history of the musicians and Roots and Blues songs that he performs. His performance also includes a few originals.

His first CD, Shakey Joe Kambic 1, has been out for a few years. He is working on material for his second CD, which will include an instrumental dedicated to his wife.

Most recently, Shakey Joe Kambic has teamed up with percussionist Tim Snyder, who sings newer blues and provides the beat for their songs on his cajón.

Promoter’s Note: Forty years ago I took a job after college as a maintenance superintendent at a high-rise apartment building. I met Shakey Joe Kambic, known as JJ at the time, as he was the man who would paint empty apartments that were being flipped for the next tenant to move in. I was working to save money that helped me open up my first nightclub (Chameleon Club).  Joe was painting his way through law school. He was a good painter and I was curious. An older, experienced painter taught Joe how to paint and then Joe taught me how to paint. These are skills I have used my whole life and now I have taught my son’s how to paint too.  And so it goes…

Joe and I shared a love of blues and we became friends. Joe turned me onto Hound Dog Taylor and his music. Hound Dog was an old Chicago street musician who was seen by a then 23 year-old Bruce Iglauer. Bruce recorded Hound Dog Taylor and the record was the first on Bruce’s new independent record label, Alligator. Over the years I have booked 30 Alligator Record’s artists here in Lancaster. The latest is the Nick Moss Band featuring Dennis Greunling who are the final band at Lancaster Roots and Blues this year on Sunday night at the Village Nightclub.

So now Shakey Joe Kambic is sharing his knowledge of music once again at two shows in the new Lizard Lounge in the newly renovated Village Nightclub at the festival. He will be playing Friday, just before Morgan James and Saturday afternoon at the VIP party.  Come see Joe and hear him regale you with stories of old blues artists and their song. Let the tradition of Shakey Joe Kambic turning people onto great music continue.

Rich Ruoff