Joe Luhrman on His Third Album, “Lord Knows I Tried”

Joe Luhrman didn’t plan to record three albums in the span of five years. All he wanted to do was try out recording, just to see if he could. Then he fell in love with the studio.

Joe, who is the retired owner of a software company, has been playing guitar since he was 13 years old. After playing in bands throughout high school and college, he rejoined the scene in 2016 as a member of the first-ever Stages adult band.

He was encouraged to join the band program by Charles Simon, now the general manager of Stages, who met Joe while teaching his son music lessons at The Music Cellar in 2010.

Then, in 2019, Joe decided to try something he had always been curious about – recording an album.

“I’ve always sort of wrote songs on and off, but I never did anything with them,” Joe said. “This was the first time where I actually sat down, wrote 10 songs, and decided I was going to go in the studio and see if I could record them.”

Joe took to Studio A to record his debut album, “Turn Around”, which was released in 2021. The album featured Charles Simon on bass guitar and was produced and engineered by Dave Nachodsky.

During his time in the studio, Joe developed a deeper interest in mixing, mastering, and sound engineering.

He enjoys being in the studio with Dave Nachodsky, who Joe describes as being willing to answer any questions throughout the process and explain “everything you need to know.”

Joe returned to Studio A to record his second album, “Fear of Dying”, which was released in 2023. The second time around, Joe found it less daunting to play in the studio as his comfort level continued to improve.

With his confidence and passion in the studio growing, it was only natural for Joe to record another album, which led him to create “Lord Knows I Tried”, which was released in February 2026.

The album featured Joe’s former band instructor, Taylor O’Connell, on backing vocals, Charles Simon on bass and as the producer, and Dave Nachodsky as the engineer. Joe wrote the album, played lead guitar, and sang.

He doesn’t label himself as a trained vocalist, but he has noticed improvements in his singing throughout each album and has grown more comfortable receiving feedback while recording. 

“I really enjoyed this time because Charles sang backup on one of the songs, ‘Stale Beer & Regret’, and watching Taylor O’Connell, who did all the backing vocals, they got the same treatment,” Joe said. “It’s actually kind of nice to be sitting on the other side of the glass.”

Joe’s growth in the studio has reflected in his personal life, too. He found confidence by accomplishing his goal of recording an album and proving to himself that he was capable of doing so. 

“I always knew I could write a song. I didn’t know I could go into the studio and sit down and play 10 songs in a row with professional guys,” he said.

Musically, Joe has found growth through recording in the studio, participating in the band program, and bouncing ideas off of his friends Charles Simon and Mitch Treger of “Mitch Treger & the Accomplices.” He especially has felt improvement in his dynamics, arrangements, and chord voicings.

“I love blues, and there’s a pretty straight ahead way of playing blues that’s pretty boring,” Joe said. “But there’s also a way of doing voicings of chords and stuff that makes even the same old one, four, five chord progression start to sound better.”

When Joe writes his music, the first step is to be an active listener in his day-to-day life. For lyrical inspiration, he keeps track of phrases people say and things that happen throughout the day that catch his attention. 

“It’s a lot like a comedian who hears people say things that are funny, and he comes up with a bit. When I come up with a riff or a lyric, it’s the same thing,” Joe explains.

“Minivan Man” from “Lord Knows I Tried” is an ironic song written about a real-life moment that happened to Joe – a man cut him off in a minivan while he was driving, and he immediately recorded a voice memo to document the idea. 

“Cutting Room Floor”, also off the most recent album, was born when Joe heard the title phrase, which refers to the editing process of old movies. Film used to be physically cut out when scenes were edited, and Joe imagined an actor seeing their parts cut out and falling onto the cutting room floor.

When it comes to writing guitar parts, “it’s usually just sitting on my couch, not even thinking about it, just absent-mindedly playing my guitar. I’ll come up with a riff or a chord progression and I’ll just quickly record that,” he explains.

Joe’s musical inspirations include The Jam, Jimi Hendrix, Tom Petty (especially his lyric writing), Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny Cash, and grunge music.

One of his biggest inspirations is Elvis Costello. Joe appreciates Costello’s style because it’s ironic, but has a “bite” to it. He prefers guitar with an “edge” to it over a “smooth and glossy” sound.

The next step is his favorite part of the writing process – making a home demo in his garage. He records the guitar, bass, and vocals himself and uses Garage Band for drums. His demos encapsulate his vision for the work, which is then brought to life by his band in the studio.

The most important aspect of recording an album, Joe says, is to listen to yourself. “They say in business you should do what you know, in books you should write what you know, I think in music you should play what you know.” 

A musician’s priority when writing music should be to write what makes them happy, Joe believes.

“I’m not trying to make any money off of this,” Joe says. “I’m not trying to get discovered. I’m just doing it because I think it’s cool.”