SunSp·t is Joe MacPhail’s solo project. SunSp.t is a part of Carrboro, NC label Sleepy Cat Records. Joe recently performed a SunSp.t solo set at the Sleepycat Records Official SXSW 2025 Showcase. Joe also performed with Chatham Rabbits for their Be Real With Me album release Tour.

Releases: New Single by Oblations, album on the way! After that, an upcoming SunSp.t piano album funded by the Durham Arts Council.

Radio: Joe’s Jazz compositions 6858, Caught In A Long Goodbye and Phase Is were played regularly on 90.7 WNCU’s Jazz Radio Programming, as performed by Dreamroot. SunSp.t Radio Interviews: “Previewing Sleepy Fest ‘24!” and SunSp.t Interview on WXDU

Press: Read Indy Week’s enthusiastic review of Jofi-1, “With Charismatic Keyboard Melodies, SunSp.t’s ‘Jofi-1’ Explodes Lofi Textures Into Thrilling Hi-Fi”.

Read Boogixiote’s Jofi-2 interview/short story "Set, Setting Tunage: SunSp.t: Jofi-2”

TV: Joe performed Hammond B3 on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert with The Mountain Goats, Drums on PBS Music at the Museum with XOXOK, and Piano/Synth on PBS Music at the Museum with Dreamroot.

Current Bands

SunSp.t (Solo project. Keyboard-driven fusion of Singer-Songwriter, Jazz and Rock instrumentals, and Electronic Funk.)

Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba (African Fusion band, with music based around the instrument called the Kora. High-energy dance band. 2018 All Africa Music Award Nominee in the category “Best African Group”.)

Chatham Rabbits (Folk/Indie Pop, subject of 6-episode PBS Series “On The Road with Chatham Rabbits”.)

The Back Pocket (70s-inspired Funk/Rock/Americana with a Millennial Twist.)

Oblations (Blues/Rock/Funk/Jazz-based two-man band, Joe performs keys & drums simultaneously. The music is a blend of Joe and guitarist Daniel Fields’s original material. Daniel Fields is an incredible guitarist and luthier, creating bespoke handmade instruments for artists including Seal.)

Turnabout Players (Video Game Music performed in a Jazz-inspired improvisational format, Joe plays drums. Turnabout Players hosts the Triangle VGM Jams the 3rd Sunday of each month at Hartwell in Raleigh, 5-8.)

DreamRoot (Jazz/Original Improvisational Music. Joe contributed compositions to all 3 Dreamroot albums)

T. Gold (Folk, Electronic, Alternative, Saman Khoujinian and Gabe Anderson’s project.)

XOXOK (Atmospheric Soul - Recent album “Jesus Piece” - Joe plays drums. XOXOK has performed all around NC)

Country Soul Songbook (A platform which features and showcases BIPOC and LGBTQ+ voices in modern Country, Rock, and Roots music. Joe performs keyboards with the Country Soul Songbook “Thank You Ma’am Band”. The core CSSB team is Kamara Thomas, Kym Register, and Charly Lowry. Joe has performed with them and Rissi Palmer, Queen Esther, Jeff Holden, Emily Musolino, Kyshona, Sam Rise, Grace Givertz, Adia Victoria, and Shirlette Ammons. This project has lead to Joe performing with Durham, NC based funk/soul vocal quartet group The Lover Boyz, with Meltdown Rodeo, and Kamara Thomas’s solo project.)

Joe has worked as a session musician on over 1000 songs across all genres, specializing in vintage piano and keyboard instruments. Joe is also a session drummer, comfortable with click track phrasing, pocket, and textural playing.

Joe is always available for remote keyboard & drum work, email inquiries at joemacphail@gmail.com

Joe has recorded with producers including Saman Khoujinian, Jason Richmond, Jerry Brown, Tyler Lee, Alex Bingham, Joseph Terrell, and Kirk Stirland.

Joe has worked as a Live Sound Engineer. Joe has done live sound for festivals and venues including Hopscotch, Psychic Hotline Block Party, The Pinhook, The Mod, and Transfer Co. Ballroom.

Joe has performed, composed, and improvised music for multiple visual multi-medium performances.

Joe was Katrina Bond’s sound bath accompanist for Defaer’s “Sundown On The Solstice” performance at Downtown Cary Park on June 20, 2024. This performance was part of Downtown Cary Park’s visual installation “Recurrent Change”. Recurrent Change featured Rhett Hassem’s projection mapped plant art and music by Katrina Bond.

Joe performed keyboards for Kamara Thomas (2022-2024 Princeton Arts Fellow) in Tularosa: An American Dreamtime, a multidisciplinary artistic work that was performed live at Princeton University on April 25, 2023.

Joe is a 2020 US Musical Ambassador with Violet Bell through American Voices Abroad. American Voices Abroad Bands go through a rigorous audition process to perform and educate in countries around the world.

Joe performed keyboards, synthesizer, vocals and percussion for the 2022 Paperhand Puppet Intervention Band. Paperhand Puppet Intervention is a giant puppet show held at The Forrest Theater on UNC’s Campus and at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. Joe’s roles included piano performance, composition, and arranging. The show included a wide range of puppetry styles including giant puppets, mask work, “impossible dances”, set pieces, and shadow puppets.

Joe performed keyboards for Sangadare Wallace at North Star Church of the Arts’ Sunday Sermon with Radical Healing Collective. Joe also performed organ for the choir demos of Sangadore Wallace’s work Transcend.

Joe live-scored a 20-minute silent movie for O’Circus (The Oberlin College Circus Troupe) called “The First of Mays”.

Joe has performed for Footnotes Tap Ensemble, and Joe has performed at Tap Dance workshops with Relative Rhythms. Joe has performed for Blues Dances with bands including Matt Phillips and Flutocracy.

Joe works as a Private Piano Instructor. Joe combines proper technique with a pedagogy that includes Popular, Blues and Jazz music. This leads to an emphasis on tone and phrasing, and of being able to perform the piano with or without sheet music. Joe strives to improve overall musicianship and pianistic facility in an encouraging environment.