Joe Parrish

Joseph Parrish-James [pəriʃ-dʒeɪmz] (born 1995 in Bedfordshire, England) is a British guitarist of the bands Albion and Jethro Tull.

Early life and education
Parrish found his love for music at the age of three and learned to play the guitar at the age of 6. In his childhood, he listened to Deep Purple, Steeleye Span, and later Iron Maiden. Joe studied composition and arrangement at the London College of Music.

Early career
After graduating, Parrish arranged and composed for classical ensembles (orchestra and string quartet). His biggest influences are Vaughan Williams, Warlock, Dmitri Shostakovich and Igor Stravinsky.

Ongoing career
Parrish joined Jethro Tull as their lead guitarist in 2019. He succeeds the German guitarist Florian Opahle who had followed Martin Barre. With the two new albums, he has been touring internationally with Tull for years. In Germany for instance, the band gave concerts in Hamburg, Görlitz and Rostock, among other places.

Parrish is also the singer, guitarist, flute player and songwriter of his own folk rock band Albion. In March 2024, he left Jethro Tull to focus on Albion.

Musical work
As a member of Jethro Tull, Parrish has played on the last two albums the Zealot Gene and RökFlöte and with Albion the album Pryderi.

Style and equipment
His first electric guitar at age 11 was a Yamaha Pacifica. Later, he switched to a John Petrucci 6 Musicman guitar. He has also used a Schecter Diamond Series 7 String and Ibanez Parlour Acoustic. Amplifiers have included a Blackstar, an ID:100 TVP, and a POD XT. In addition to guitar, he plays mandolin and flute, and also sings.