I saw my first National Resophonic Guitar when I was 10 or 11 years old at Frank's Music in New Rochelle, N.Y. I was impressed with the shiny finish. Around that time I got my own radio and I started listening to music on late at night. My favorite was Sam Cooke. I also listened to Country music that I could pick up and fell in love with the sound of steel guitars. At 15 I attended the Barlow school in upstate N.Y. where I started to learn about blues and folk music. My friends John Compton and Brad Fiedel had a band and I used to jam on harp.I started playing slide guitar in open E around this time. On May 10 of 1968, I saw Jimi Hendrix at Fillmore East and my life changed permanently. When was 17, I met Jerry Garcia and B.B. King who let me play Lucille and they both encouraged me to continue. I also met Johnny Winter that year, who told me about the guitar that he and many of my blues idols played. Around this time I did my first recording session. I ran into Banjo/Steel Guitar wizard Bill Keith at Manny's in NY and he invited me to a session he was doing at the old Hit Factory to play harp. I have no idea what the tune was or whether they even kept the track, but if I wasn't hooked before, I was then. It took until 1989 for me to get my first National, a 1931 Style O {The shiny one with the Palm Trees!}. In the last year or so , I have gotten back into playing Pedal Steel, after a 30+ year hiatus. Did I mention my friends call me Slow Joe... ;-> By this time I had figured out that open G was the tuning for Delta stuff, and picked up a few other tunings to boot. In the interim I played electric and slide in countless local bands in the NY club scene and went to work first for a local sound company, then a music store and wound up selling professional recording gear and working for various manufacturers and engineering here & there . Despite this , I try to keep it really simple.

I moved to LA in 1983, mainly because a friend said, "Anybody with half a brain can make a lining in LA". And so I did.I've played in a variety of bands out here in LA and worked with a number of different artists. Now I'm working on a solo project featuring my tunes. Its a synthesis of the music that has influenced me in various ways and expresses the feelings I have. Sometimes its a mixed bag, sometimes its very much in a defined style, but its always me and its always a joy to play.

website - http://jgsdelta.com/bluezone
Facebook (Music) - http://www.facebook.com/jgsdelta.music
Facebook (personal) - http://www.facebook.com/joe.gorfinkle
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/joegsbluezone
ReverbNation - http://www.reverbnation.com/joegorfinkle