Getting to Know… Joe Buchanan | Interview

In the 491^st Q&A in our Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop from the Texas-born and raised Jewish country musician Joe Buchanan.

Intriguing, Joe Buchanan! In response to our first burning question, Buchanan adds, regarding his shows, “We bring the experience that puts smiles on faces and gets people moving.” We get the inside scoop on the Texas Jewish country musician’s genesis, goals, musical influences, and current and future musical endeavors. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into Getting to Know… Joe Buchanan: Interview No. 491!

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For those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes you distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

Well, I’m a Jewish country music artist, and what I mean by that is that I make country music inspired by my Jewish faith. None of it is parody or satire; it’s all authentic stuff. We rock a show by giving people something amazing for their time. People work too damn hard not to have a good time when they come to a show. We bring the experience that puts smiles on faces and gets people moving.

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Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did your music career begin, and what were some of your goals or visions early?

I started writing music when I was going through my conversion to Judaism. There were so many beautiful things I was learning, and it was doing a lot of healing. Songwriting is a form of study for me, and I believe if you’re going to write about something, you’d better know something about it. So, that process got me to dive deeper than just what was on the surface.

I used to get there pretty early for classes, and I would sometimes bring my guitar to keep my hands busy while I waited. I tend to fidget quite a bit sometimes. My Rabbi asked me to play him something I was working on and then asked me to share it with our community. Next thing you know, folks from different places started asking me to come and play for them. There’s a fella named Saul Kaye who heard my story and felt that an album was needed. Now we’re three albums in and touring all over.

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Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

The reason I started recording and releasing this music was to share who we are with the world. In my experience growing up and in moving through the world now is that it still doesn’t really know what it means to be a Jewish person, let alone what we really believe. Most of the world’s knowledge is through the lens of either someone who is not Jewish or folks who want to try and bend the information to fit their narrative.

We’re everyday folks, just like everyone else, and our beliefs have some really healing messages and goodness in them. I want this music to do two things. One, support the Jewish community by bringing them some incredible country music that they can hear their stories in. Two, send out some great country music to the world that they can hear their stories in.

There is no reason why this album cannot exist equally in both spaces.

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Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences, and how are they influential?

I would say my two biggest musical influences are Robert Earl Keen and George Strait. Both are incredible storytellers, and I believe the heart of country music is storytelling. They’re both very different artists, but both are uniquely Texas in the way they approach their music. They’re iconic Texas legends, and they stuck to their guns when it came to the music they made. I love that and have definitely had more than enough people tell me that I can’t make this music or try to get me to do something else. I’m sticking to it, and the response has been tremendous. In “My Beloved,” you can definitely hear that George Strait influence.

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Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

We played a show at SXSW, and it was Friday night. Someone had drawn a gun in the club before we were supposed to load in for the show. The area was cleared out, and the police allowed us to set up our gear while they conducted their investigation. As soon as they left, the place filled up fast, and in the middle of the set, I told the crowd, “It’s Friday night! That means it’s Shabbos! Shaaaaaaabbooooooos!” The whole crowd shouted it back with gusto. I’m sure they had no idea what I was talking about, but they were having a great time, and the place was packed. We ripped into a version of Shalom Aleichem (a traditional Friday evening prayer), but we did it our way, and they loved it.

Afterwards, a guy came up to me at the bar and asked if that was Hebrew in the song. I told him it was, and he whispered that he was Jewish. I laughed and told him he didn’t need to whisper.

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To this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

I don’t like picking a favorite child, but I would say that each album has had its favorite. “Unbroken” is the story of choosing to become Jewish and has had a great impact on the folks who are joining the Tribe. “Return” was a great song for me and is used in Rosh Hashanah services all over the place. I would say that if there was a favorite, it has to be “My Beloved”. That is the story of my wife and me. It really captures so much of what I love about country music and about us.

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Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left-of-center we should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

Well, I’ve worked on ranches, and our family had one for a number of years, but that may not be surprising. What most folks don’t know is that I do a great Shaggy impression from Scooby-Doo, and I’m also a huge tabletop role-player. April and I met in a gaming store, and we started playing Dungeons and Dragons together about 28 years ago. We still play today and have a massive library of books in our gaming room.

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What are you currently working on or promoting that you can share? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

The main focus for me right now is getting Heaven & Earth out there to the world. I’m an independent artist, and that means that every day is a school day. We’re touring around the U.S., Canada, Israel, and the UK over the next year, and I can’t wait to share some sacred time with folks. What I haven’t really shared is that I’m working on a book about the whole thing. It’s been 11 years since I became Jewish, and the story behind that is absolutely wild. This book will cover that, the stories behind the songs, and stories from my years of playing this music.

Thank you so much for sharing and taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward. 

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Getting to Know… Joe Buchanan: Interview 491 (2025) [📷: Joe Buchanan]

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