Joe Purdy Visits Aperture (Video)

Musician Joe Purdy fills us in on his recent trip with Alec Soth, Billy Bragg, and Isaac Gale, and where they’re headed next.

Joe Purdy stopped by Aperture to check in with executive director Chris Boot following his performance with photographer Alec Soth and musician Billy Bragg at our Aperture Open Road Benefit Party and Auction in October. For the multimedia performance, the three traveled along the Rock Island Line with filmmaker Isaac Gale, playing music and photographing along the way.

As they travelled, the group played impromptu shows, performing at each place they stopped, including a benefit held outside of Ferguson, Mississippi. Of the trip, Purdy recalls, “It’s been really inspiring and has sent me on a task of being less lazy as a person. . . . The people and the issues that we found in America have started to really influence my work. You could call it a political stance, but I just think of it more as a human stance.”

The group plans to continue traveling and performing together in 2015.