Joe Ferry

Dr. Joe Ferry is an American record producer, author, bassist, guitarist and educator.

Over the course of his 40-year career, he has produced records and played bass for numerous artists, including The Skatalites, Dr. John, Rhonda Vincent, Eileen Ivers, Nicolette Larson, John Hammond, Sue Foley, Double Trouble, The Roches, The New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars, SKAndalous All-Stars, Uzimon, Joey Ray, Huey Lewis and the News and Delbert McClinton. He has several Grammy Award nominations and one Grammy, The Chancellor's Award For Teaching Excellence, and Best Fiction at the San Francisco Book Festival.

Dr. Ferry holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Long Island University, a Master of Fine Arts degree from SUNY Purchase, and a Ph.D. From Kennedy Western University.He is a faculty member at State University of New York at Purchase.

As an educator, Dr. Joe Ferry's former students include Regina Spektor, Langhorne Slim, Dan Deacon, Mitski, J-Zone, Elite, Phil "The Butcha" Moffa, Richie Castellano (of Blue Öyster Cult), Jenny Owen Youngs, Bess Rogers, Hanan Rubinstein, Cyrille-Aimee, Dan Romer and many more.

The Big Ska Band, the ska group that Ferry leads, has released several albums on the Jump Up Record label, the most recent of which is entitled Big Ska Band. In 2013, Ferry started his own publishing company and record label, Joe Ferry LLC. His debut novel, Connected: Mob Stories From My Past, received critical acclaimed with stellar reviews on amazon.com and the companion CD, Connected: Mob Stories & Reggae Riddims, features tracks by Augustus Pablo, King Tubby, Rita Marley, Victor Rice, The Butcha, Menace, Channel Tubes and The Big Ska Band. Ferry's "Mob Talk" (spoken word) EP has been released. Dr. Ferry has written a total of four books, all commercially available and has garnered numerous literary awards.

In addition to Big Ska Band, albums produced by Ferry include The Crux & The Bluestocking by Emily Hope Price. Skankology: The Ultimate Big Ska Band Collection, and the vinyl version of Connected: Mob Stories & Reggae Riddims. Ferry also played bass on "Fall In Line" and "Double EP" by Matt Simons. Ferry's second novel, Connected, Songs My Father Sang, was released in 2014 followed by "Highlife" 2016 and "Gangster Diaries" 2019.

Dr. Ferry has been touring consistently with Big Ska Band featuring Corey Glover of Living Colour on lead vocals. Since 2019, Joe Ferry has taken over the job of singing lead vocals.

• Skallelujah (N-Soul/Electica Records)
• Big Ska (Shantytown Records)
• Bootleg (Larchmont Recordings)
• 55:22 (Shantytown Records)
• Big Up (Shantytown Records)
• Revival (Jump Up Records)
• Carry On (Jump Up Records)
• Big Ska Band (Jump Up Records)