Stringed migration

Since the days of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, America’s musical landscape has been filled with acoustic-guitar-slinging singer-songwriters.

Joe Kye is yet another musician to join those ranks—except for one crucial difference. Unlike thousands before him, Kye actually wields a violin instead of a guitar—and uses the instrument to write gorgeous songs.

“The violin is such a versatile instrument. I like to create and experiment with a lot of different textures, sounds and voices,” Kye says. “With just a few pedals, you can really create a whole different sound.”

Billing himself under the moniker Joseph in the Well, Kye performs both solo and with a full band, playing classic folk-rock tunes spun with elements of chamber pop and an air of sophistication.

In addition to performing, Kye also teaches violin and plays live and in the studio with various local artists, including Musical Charis, Autumn Sky and James Cavern.

His family is originally from Korea and moved to the United States when Kye was 6. Before hopping into music full time, he taught high-school English and comparative religion in Seattle and San Francisco.

But while Kye says music’s long been a part of his life—he’s played the violin since childhood—he says it wasn’t until he moved to Sacramento in 2013 that he made it his focus.

As immigrants, Kye says his parents dreamed that one day he’d grow up, get a good job and not have to struggle financially—which was the case until he moved to Sacramento, where his sole source of income now comes via his violin and a supportive wife who works at the UC Davis Medical Center.

“I came out to my parents as an artist. They were mortified, of course,” Kye says of their reaction to his career change.

“My whole life has been pretty much prescribed,” he says. “Every year you finish school, you get a little piece of paper telling you how well you did, what you need to work on. Music is not like that at all. It’s so unstructured.”

Kye started writing songs years ago, but initially only let a few people actually hear his tunes. Then, while in Seattle, he made his first studio recording. The opportunity came after he was awarded an educational grant to explore an area unrelated to his curriculum. Kye said the school liked his proposal to record an album.

The result was Kye’s debut EP, Plastic Heart. He wrote most of the songs on the acoustic guitar and then added texture with his violin. Here, the instruments are expertly performed and recorded, creating songs that strike a balance between folk rock’s emotional rawness and classical chamber elegance.

Since then he’s shifted focus from the guitar to the violin. Now he hopes to release another EP next year, comprising material he’s written since Plastic Heart. The new songs, he says, will mark a change in sound.

Kye adds that a lifetime of playing violin has taught him much about music theory, yet he only has limited experience with live performance—something he’d like to change.

“Chords and song structure, you don’t really get that stuff in a classical music education—it’s so focused on respecting the wishes of dead white composers,” Kye says.

As such, the biggest struggle isn’t applying folk-rock songwriting traditions to his violin, it’s accepting the unpredictability of life as a musician.

“As an immigrant, you’re constantly told to look for security and stability and to be the best that you can be, and music unfortunately is not considered a worthwhile endeavor,” Kye says. “I struggle with feeling guilty about doing something that I love, which is really sad. I’m getting over it, slowly but surely.”