Joel Rakes

Joel Rakes
Rakes at his CD release show in the Bacchus Theater at University of Delaware in 2008.
Background information
Born	(1986-02-16) February 16, 1986 (age 31)
Origin	United States
Genres	Progressive folk Indie
Instruments	Vocals Guitar Banjo Multi-instrumentalist
Years active	1999–present
Labels	who ganked my gnome? records
Associated acts	Jenny & Tyler[1]
Website	www.joelrakes.com

Joel Rakes (born February 16, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter and musician based in Nashville, Tennessee. Rakes first began releasing his music independently on his own, starting with 2005 release Third Person Present Tense. His 2008 sophomore release was entitled A Sudden Change in the Atmosphere. Rakes' most recent production, The Philadelphia Session live EP, was released on February 16, 2010.

According to sleeve notes, The Philadelphia Session was recorded at Range Recording Studios in Ardmore, PA. It was recorded on August 16, 2009 over the course of only five hours. This was accomplished by tracking all six musicians live in studio.

Rakes has a very original twist to his music. This can be seen on A Sudden Change in the Atmosphere, where he puts to use his full repertoire of instrumentation and his vocal capabilities. Some of his earlier lo-fi demos featuring just his guitar and vocals speak just as clearly and show his talent just as well as full-band studio recordings. Rakes has released very well-accepted free Christmas songs on his website in recent years.

Rakes was born 16 February 1986 in the United States. He grew up in Plano, Texas and Dover, Delaware, and graduated from high school in 2004.

A multi-instrumentalist, Rakes is well known for playing Taylor acoustic guitars, but he also plays banjo, piano, and several other instruments. He plays all of these on his albums through the use of multitrack recording. In The Philadelphia Session and A Sudden Change in the Atmosphere, Rakes utilizes various other sound effects and musicians.

While attending the University of Delaware, Rakes studied marketing. He graduated in 2008 and moved to the city of Philadelphia. He currently resides in East Nashville. It was during his college years that he really came into his own as a songwriter and performer.