Over the years Joe played bass guitar in teen groups, worked as a roadie for local club bands, and hired bands to perform at the Vaccarino's family owned restaurant.
As a record collector since his pre-teens Joe grew up with '60s-'70s rock. His ever expanding musical interests branched out into various musical styles including Soul, R&B, doo-wop... even some jazz, country, folk and bluegrass. Throughout all the years of collecting he was always intrigued to find records by local artists.
More recently, Joe began a quest to learn more about local artists and their recordings. His research uncovered much more of a local musical heritage than he ever imagined.
In 2004 Joe published his first book "Baltimore Sounds: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Baltimore Area Pop Musicians, Bands, and Recordings 1950-1980." The book was intended to be a living history and tribute to the rich and varied musical talents of the Baltimore regional area. Included are biographies of local bands and individual musicians - regardless of whether they released records or not.
As it is an impossible task to document every single musician in Baltimore, as a result there were omissions (none intentional), Many folks contacted Joe to add information and provide updates or correction. Eventually it was decided to incorporate all the new information into a new edition of the book... Joe plans to publish an updated version to include revisions and additions to the original book, as well as expanding the coverage of local artists through the 1990's.
For more information, Click here to email Joe
