Quotes From The Book

"I'm not sure if you have ever heard about this guy Joel Cage. He's hugely talented and has a lot of output available on the web. 4 CD's, lots of great press, winner of numerous nationwide song writing contests (including first place in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest). He's a former member of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and numerous bands on the scene around Boston in the 80's, 90's.

"He has played all over the country at prestigious folk festivals, including Newport,, at the Bluebird in Nashville .. lots of others.

"He performs solo on acoustic guitar and sounds like a whole band, no machines or tapes or CD's. Calls himself a folksinger, but he covers a lot more ground than that.

"He's really worth a look & listen. His version of U2's 'Streets' is powerful. Does a great job on Steve Stills' 'Treetop Flyer', he has written dozens of great songs and delivers them with ease and high craft. High energy, high sensitivity, high musicianship, an interesting guy.

"Joel is just the coolest, crunchiest, Trippy Hippy that ever pondered the human condition and then conveys it so passionately with his music and writing! A rare treat indeed! I highly recommend any chance you get to let this well accomplished fellow just about break his guitar for your listening pleasure."

"I don't mean he will pull some Jimmy Hendrix, pour lighter fluid on it and then smash his axe on stage kind of a deal. He doesn't have to. His heart and soul is his lighter fluid and his fingers just about spark. This explosive combination has put a hole just above the strings on his axe for real and if you were not looking, it sounds like several people are playing the room. It's just Joel, his axe, a microphone and the love and passion inside of him that he pours out every time he preforms. His style is unique. His presence is kind. His music is soulful!"

"His newsletters will sometimes include a written piece at the bottom that is called "An incomplete thought" He invites you to write him back to finish the thought. The trick is that Joel writes in a kind of "stream of consciousness" that is a tough act to follow. But at the same time, the things he writes, will ignite your mind! See if you can finish one of Joel's sunrise written thoughts." BA, Holderness, NH

"Your passion and energy flows up through your body and through your fingers to command the music like a herd of wild mustangs."
PW, NYC

"You're a consummate professional - a rarity these days. I would jump at a chance to work with you again" -- Esteemed SoundTech for Levon Helm, et al ..

STAND AND FALL is terrific---full of anger-angst-frustration about one's inability to make it big. Flying in the face of that "I deserved better" rant is UNCOMPLICATED ME, proof that Cage is quite complex in his self-views. I liked that song too....but the best one is DINOSAUR -- gloom-doom-cynicism-- exquisite expression of man's futility. I suspect the reference to soft rain falling derives from Ray Bradbury's short satire about nuclear war.... POWERFUL SONG---great guitar work.

you and your music are a personal inspiration to me and my music whenever I am feeling low about my artistry.

Watching you work voice and guitar is like watching a sculptor work plaster and water - you get to see a masterpiece come together before your very ears/eyes.

you always manage to surprise me... you are truly a crescendo to the public ear of great talent. now I must make these fingers find a feeble way to mimic even an iota of what you do on that grand old Gibson

i have never enjoyed listening to music more. you have an amazing talent.you have touched my soul!

i love just flowing along, experiencing the beauty of it all. you really play well!! it's kind of like surfing or something.

great sound! great guitar! great renditions! open tuning ... open sound... beautiful!

thanks for a wondrous night of magic! you have a great voice and sound! Sing on!

I never realized what a beautifully bleak song 'winter' is. Its my new favorite Joel Cage tune.

Awesome performance last night! I was truly impressed as was the entire audience. Talk about edge of the seat! The CD is a fine work of art as well! Keep up the fantastic work! It is such an honor to be mentioned in this piece that there are no words for "you're welcome" that can mean its value!

I like your CD so much I feel I should at least take a stab at it.
Favorite songs are hard to pick. They depend on my mood. Reason has got to be one of the most poignant and poetic ballads I've heard. Elevator and Goodbye are also tops in my book. They both strike a chord with me. April is to me, simply a great ballad. Lover is a great opener - from the first notes it caught my attention and wouldn't let go. Several friends of mine agree that your Streets is better and more passionate
than U2's, and it almost caused me to blow a speaker in my car. Wander is yet another of my favorites (are we seeing a trend here? At the risk of being redundant, I feel pretty strongly about all these songs). Fatman should be on the radio all over the country. Nobody was the last song I listened to before skiing Wildcat 2 weeks ago, and it spent the entire day swirling around in my head - and I loved it. Now, whenever I listen to it, I have White Mountain flashbacks (which is a
good thing). Winter and Rose also elicit a severe crank of the volume. I love the sound of them. (I may be reading too much into it, but I sense a hint of mid-70's Genesis, one of my favorite bands. I can almost hear Peter or Phil singing "Holding the hand of a life-form...." And even some Phil Collins influence on Winter with the Kahone percussion. Fantastic. Home and Baggage are also favorites. Baggage
has a real evocative sound to it, and I usually find myself playing that track a 2nd time back to back, like it was too good to end that soon.

You always amaze me when I've had the opportunity and pleasure to enjoy your talent and company. You are a bright light in a sometimes gray sky.

I find myself so inspired by your talent, your expression, your insights and your experiences.. You have touched my spirit and heart and that's what and artist should do. I am inspired to be more true to my heart by my experience of your music.

I heard you at the Kerrville Folk Festival and was really blown away. Great performance, and I really thought the songs were great too and should have chosen. Your guitar playing was amazing (and the hole shows the time you've put in). I just wanted to say, "Good job, great songs!"
FT-Kerrville

I'm going thru a rough period in my life and there is something about your music and your words and your friendly greeting of everyone who comes to your shows that reaches that space in me that really needs to be reached right now. Thank-you so much ...... really ...... your music is only able to do this greatness for me because of all the passion you put into it. The mark of a true artist is being able to give yourself
away through your art (music) for the thousand th time and still end up with even more passion than you started with.

Joel is a songwriter of the likes of Taylor, and the late Harry Chapin. Neither Chapin or Taylor (or anyone I have ever heard in my 42 years) play as mean and brilliant acoustic guitar as Joel Cage

Joel was in the back playing to a practically empty room (a travesty to be sure). Well somewhere during our conversation we started to pay attention to him and by the end of the night we were completely blown away, cheering madly for this unassuming musician who played his heart out in that situation, no differently than if he'd been at the
Centrum, looking like he'd crack his guitar in half at any moment. I bought his album Last Hard Road and listened to it about 100 times during the next week. I'm not sure how to categorize Joel either, but I do have to say that he has proven to me that writing lyrics is not a lost art. His are some of the most colorful, poetic, powerful lyrics I've heard, with an amazingly diverse range of topics covered in his songs.

He was definitely in command of that room. When he sang he pulled everything, and I mean everything he could out of each note. He has an apparent confidence and presence on stage that can only come from years of work and hard gigs.

Awesome awesome awesomee...that's the first thing i can say about it....I could see Joel's hands shaking as he went to take a sip of his water... There was this amazing sheer look of joy and happines and energy when he was sitting on that stage singing and playing for us all--it was so wonerful to see him in his element.

It's hard for me to put that evening into words, it was just so magical--as if every posible element of the evening from Joel's person to his songs to the audience to the energy of Passim was just proffering passion...

I heard the two songs you did at Kerrville. That first one (No Peace In Dying) really blew me away. I'm not sure I've ever heard someone play the guitar any better while also singing. Stevie Ray came to mind!

If I don't quit listening to your CD, I'm gonna wear it out before it's even a month old.

I caught your show at Bean Streets in Asheville. WOW! We could only stay a minute, but I was so captured that I bought both of your CDs on the spot. The question is, when are you coming back? Your CDs are GREAT! I can't believe you recorded the first one on your own! (And in the bedroom??!!!) Super work! Nobody totally blows me away

another chainsaw debut...what I have heard from the disc is all killer bee. This one has a bit much electric guitar for the folkies, but the character gets points for honesty