Joseph Michael Miskulin (born January 6, 1949) is an American
accordionist
Accordions (from 19th-century German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed in a frame). The es ...
and producer. In a music career spanning more than four decades, Joey Miskulin has collaborated with a range of artists including
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...
,
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American Country music, country and Folk music, folk singer, songwriter, and actor. He was one of the most popular acoustic m ...
,
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...
,
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
,
Ricky Skaggs
Rickie Lee Skaggs (born July 18, 1954), known professionally as Ricky Skaggs, is an American neotraditional country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, ma ...
,
Ricky Van Shelton
Ricky Van Shelton (born January 12, 1952) is an American retired country music singer. Active between 1986 and 2006, he charted more than 20 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts. This figure includes 10 Number One hits: "Somebod ...
,
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...
,
Frankie Yankovic, as well as many others. He is a performer, studio musician, producer and pedagogue.
Early life
As a child, the only child of Slovenian and Croatian parents,
in Chicago, Miskulin displayed early signs of musical
prodigy
Prodigy, Prodigies or The Prodigy may refer to:
* Child prodigy, a child who produces meaningful output to the level of an adult expert performer
** Chess prodigy, a child who can beat experienced adult players at chess
Arts, entertainment, and m ...
, spontaneously showing an interest in the accordion by the time he was four.
Beginning music training a year later, Joey was performing professionally by age eleven with the Ronnie Lee Band, and had his first recording produced by Roman Possedi at age twelve.
A year later, the boy would meet
Frankie Yankovic, forming a personal and professional relationship with the man known as "America's Polka King" that would last a lifetime.
Performing career
Miskulin toured the United States with Yankovic as his featured accordionist for six years, writing and arranging songs between performances.
In the 1990s, he rejoined
Riders In The Sky, and with them is billed as "Joey the Cowpolka King".
Further reading
Dolgan, Bob (2006). ''America's Polka King: The Real Story of Frankie Yankovic''. Cleveland, OH: Gray & Company, Publishers.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miskulin, Joey
1949 births
Living people
Musicians from Chicago
21st-century American accordionists