Joe began taking piano lessons at age 5 creating a solid musical foundation in melody, rhythm and sight reading.

Brought up in a music loving household he developed a love for the drums and on his 11th Christmas woke up to find a drum kit waiting.
The drums became his first love, with guitar and bass following a year later.
Figuring out guitar, piano, and bass parts for his school bands gave him a good musical ear which proved useful in many of the bands he played with in later years.

He played his first professional gig at 14 and was teaching by age 15.
After studying Physics at Durham University (where he spent the majority of his time playing with function bands, small jazz bands and the university big band) he returned to teaching and playing in the North of England for a few years before moving to London to embark on a career as a professional musician.

He played and recorded with a number of original bands before joining the David Cross (King Crimson) band in 2004. He played shows with David Cross in Japan, Italy, and the UK before leaving to join Pendragon.
After a couple of European tours with Pendragon including 2 DVD releases he joined classic rock legends Wishbone Ash in 2007 and remains their drummer to the present day.

His sense of rhythm and melody led to production and and co-writing credits with Elena, the David Cross Band, and Wishbone Ash. Joe co-wrote songs on Wishbone Ash’s “Elegant Stealth” and “Blue Horizon”which he also co-produced.

The song “Take It Back” from Blue Horizon even features a guitar solo by Joe.

In his down time from touring Joe created an online music school – JoeCrabtree.com , and a popular musicians iOS App PolyNome (polynome.net)