Joey Stuckey is a young man with an enormous talent, clear vision and a tireless work ethic, who is well respected by his peers, fans and more than a few legends.
Joey Stuckey is an award-winning blind guitarist, songwriter, singer, composer, producer, radio and television personality, music columnist, educator and sound engineer. He is also the official music ambassador for his hometown of Macon, Georgia, where he owns and operates Shadow Sound Studio, which boosts vintage analogue gear and state-of-the-art digital technology.
In addition to offering private instruction in the studio, Joey is a professor of Music Technology at Mercer University and Middle Georgia State University, as well as being an official mentor for the Recording Connections School in Los Angeles.
No stranger to musical theatre, he was the musical director for Macon State College’s production of The Rocky Horror Show in the fall of 2002. Joey has also taken on the role of music publisher and has a growing catalogue of great songs across multiple genres. His publishing companies include Sociology Publishing (BMI) and Sign Wave Publishing (ASCAP).
As a toddler, Joey Stuckey lost his sight and sense of smell as the result of a brain tumour. When he was 13, Joey developed pneumonia and eventually had to be home-schooled for a year.
“I lived for my shows on Saturdays” says Joey. “I was a huge fan of public radio and on Saturdays, I listened to a show called After Space. It was DJ-ed and produced by Rob Thomas who would later become a good friend. He would play shows, like The Lone Ranger, The Shadow, and other classics. I was so enamoured of these stories – the sound effects and narration were just amazing, and I decided that sound production was what I wanted to do with my life.”
After this evolutionary period in his life, Joey bought some Radio Shack sound equipment and was soon recording sessions in the attic of his house with local garage bands. “I realized, at that point, that there were things I wanted to share with the world,” says Stuckey. “And I knew that my medium was going to be music.”
Without missing a beat, Joey Stuckey graduated from high school at the age of 14 and at 17 he began his musical career by taking classical guitar lessons from noted music professor Terry Cantwell. Joey went on to attend Mercer University. He furthered his musical education by studying with renowned jazz guitarist Stanley Jordon and by attending Berklee Online.
Joey’s guitar style draws from artists as diverse as Jeff Beck and Wes Montgomery, while his vocal influences range from Mel Tormé to Gregg Allman. Joey and his band perform internationally. They have opened for legendary artists such as Ted Nugent, Bad Company, Trisha Yearwood, James Brown, Clarence Carter, Wet Willie, The B-52s, Lee Brice, Kevin Kinney from Drivin’-N-Cryin’, and Smashmouth.
In his other roles as either producer, composer, music columnist, sound engineer or hired musician, Joey has worked with musical greats including Alan Parsons (Pink Floyd, The Alan Parsons Project), Gene Simmons (KISS), Carole King, Al Chez (Tower Of Power), Nate East (Eric Clapton, Phil Collins), Vinnie Colaiuta (Sting, Frank Zappa), Nick D’Virgilio (Genesis, Spock’s Beard), Ryo Okumoto (Asia), Derek St. Holmes, Chris Hicks (Marshall Tucker), Dave Maclaughlin (Rush, April Wine), Doyle Dykes, Connie Haines (Tommy Dorsey Orchestra), Gregg Allman, Charlie Daniels, Razzy Bailey, Tom Brooks (Chance The Rapper), Julian Colbeck (Tes, Steve Hackett), Ross Hogarth (Producer for Van Halen, John Melancamp, Bonnie Raitt), Billy Duff (The Cult), Joe Solo (producer for Macy Gray), Danny Seraphine (Chicago), Ben Tucker (Herbie Mann), David Ragsdale (Kansas, Smashing Pumpkins), Allen Vizzutti (Chick Corea), Sammy Nestico (Count Basie Orchestra), David Berger arranger and conductor for Jazz at Lincoln Center, Natalie Cole, Rosemary Clooney, Madeleine Peyroux, Cecile McLorin Saleant), Shannon Forest (loto, Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts), Charlie Hoskyns (The Popes), Paul McGuinness (The Pogues), Will Morrison (Modern English), Chuck Leavell (Rolling Stones), Randall Bramblett (Traffic, Gregg Alman), Hughie Thomasson Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Outlaws), Jimmy Herring (Aquarium Rescue Unit, The Allman Brothers Band), Mike Mills (REM), and many others.