Meet Joe Kenney Band

🏆 Grammy Voting Member • Award-Winning Artist • Mental Health Advocate

Joe has released six albums and countless collaborations. Musically, these productions span multiple genres. They reflect a cohesive blend of classical, jazz, rock, soul, and hip-hop elements. Joe has garnered praise for both his original compositions and cover arrangements.

His debut solo piano album, Afflictions and Remedies (2015), received local airplay. It was also praised as a "painting of a piano at work" by Meredith Hairston, who put the album in rotation at WJSU in Jackson, MS.

In 2016, Joe went to work on an album of jazz and classical-inspired arrangements of alternative rock and Top 40 hits. Released in February 2016 and titled 1.5, the album was recognized on broadcast radio 104.5 Philadelphia and featured on iHeartRadio. DJ Wendy Rollins characterized Joe's cover of the Twenty One Pilots song Stressed Out as "perfection" and went on to applaud him for "re-imagining songs in a completely different format."

Following the success of his first two solo piano albums, Joe expanded by adding formats to his repertoire. Working with a full band, he honed in on a jazz fusion sound while retaining the classically informed harmonies from his first two albums. An EP of three singles was released in 2017, which became the foundation and inspiration for the 2020 album Forth.

In March 2018, Joe released 2.5, his third full studio album in as many years. Showcasing multiple styles and varying instrumentation, 2.5 features distinctively energized reinterpretations of eight alternative rock hits. The first half of the album features two full-group instrumental tracks and two vocal arrangements. The second half of the album features solo piano re-imaginings of four additional songs. Two tracks from the project were placed on the official iHeartRadio "Instrumental Pop Covers" playlist.

In August 2018, Joe made waves with his debut orchestral performance. The Chester County Pops premiered his original work Zera alongside a performance of Chopin's Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brillante.

In 2019, Kenney started recording his fourth album. His biggest undertaking to date features six highly decorated vocal artists from the Philadelphia area on a ten-track original album. The music is geared to markets that cross multiple musical styles. The first single, Another Side (Ft. Joy Ike), released on May 8th, 2020, was premiered by Neon Music (UK) and earned a glowing review. Featured on The Key/WXPN, popular radio personality Helen Leight selected it as the Philly Local pick. The next two releases, All's Not Lost (Ft. Laura Lizcano) and Gone (Ft. Aaron Parnell Brown), also garnered spectacular reviews.

On October 23rd, 2020, the full album – Forth – was released to all platforms. It won a Bronze Medal in the Global Music Awards and has been featured on over eighty-five Radio Stations in the U.S. and Canada.

After pushing the tour in support of the album back due to the COVID pandemic, Kenney continued to work on more material and collaborations with new artists for future releases.

During this time, Joe also recorded an entirely new solo piano project, his fifth studio album, titled Reflections on Inner Transformation. The music features explorations and meditations on points of personal growth Kenney sought to develop. The spirit of each point is captured in sound.

Four singles from the album were released in 2021, and popular music blogs such as Music Dances When You Sleep and MainlyPiano featured the music and written articles accompanying the first several singles.

A year after the release of Forth, in October 2021, Joe Kenney Band brought the Forth Tour to fruition. The four-piece band performed concerts for enthusiastic crowds in Cleveland, OH; Louisville, KY; Birmingham, AL; New York, NY; Wayne, PA; and Wilmington, DE.

After the momentum of the group's first tour together, Joe and his band maintained an impressively active schedule in 2022, with debuts at World Cafe Live, TIME on Sansom, Heritage, SOUTH Jazz Club, City Winery, Kennett Brewing Company Jazz Fest, and a weekly residency at Root Down Brewing Company in Phoenixville.

Root Down Brewing Co. collaborated with Joe on a beer that commemorates and bears the same name as the Reflections on Inner Transformation album. Released in May 2022, Reflections debuted at #15 on the Zone Music Reporter charts. The album was also minted as an NFT project, with Joe partnering with his The Proper Hustlers bandmate and cryptocurrency guru Chris Fox.

December 2022 saw the release of Prevailing, a classical/cinematic collaboration between Joe and fellow West Chester University alumna, violinist Hope Linton. Prevailing debuted at #2 on the One World Music Radio charts, and the album received an overwhelmingly positive response, with a flurry of reviews celebrating the composition and the record.

New music, eclectic collaborations, a bevy of shows, and prolific releases continued as the theme of 2023. Joe produced nine studio releases and reached over 1 million total Spotify plays. Between his six bands and solo efforts, he performed in over 125 shows. At the same time, Joe focused on content creation online, amassing over 1,000 subscribers on YouTube, and creating a multitude of symphonic works ready to be arranged for full orchestra.

In 2024, Joe teamed up with Katie Butler and Candice Johnson-Lindsay to create, organize, and curate the inaugural Harmonic Hope & Healing Festival, which brought awareness to music therapy and mental health initiatives.

HHH Fest took place on 5/5/24 in Philadelphia and featured a star-studded six-band lineup, a sound healing space, vendors, and practitioner demonstrations.

Joe’s newest endeavor represents the synthesis of his mental health advocacy and his piano mastery, with the writing and publishing of his new book series Affirmations For High Achievers™. Volume one, focused on success and manifesting big dreams through inner work, is scheduled for release on October 3rd, 2025.