SunSp·t is the solo project of Joe MacPhail. Joe MacPhail is a Keyboardist/Songwriter/Composer/Producer, SunSp.t is a part of Carrboro, NC label Sleepy Cat Records.

JoFi-1 and JoFi-2 are instrumental collections of beat-type compositions, available on all streaming services & the Sleepy Cat Records website. Jofi-1 is more extroverted and funky, while Jofi-2 is a halftime watercolor dreamscape.

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”

Live SunSp.t shows include a combination of keyboard, vocals and beat machine. This allows Joe to perform instrumental compositions with drums and backing tracks, sing and play keyboards over a drum track, or to just perform with keyboards and vocals. Joe performs covers by classic and new artists such as Taj Mahal, Tedeschi Trucks Band, D’Angelo, Moonchild and John Hiatt.

Current Bands

SunSp.t (Solo project. Keyboards, Vocals, Beat Machine. Atmospheric Indie Singer/Songwriter meets Jazz/Funk instrumentalist meets Hip Hop & Electronic-leaning Beats, with covers of Roots songs and Instrumental versions of Pop songs.)

The 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.)

DreamRoot (Original Improvisational Music, Jazz, Funk.)

T. Gold (Folk, Electronic.)

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

Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba (African Fusion band, with music based around the instrument called the Kora. High-energy dance band)

XOXOK (Atmospheric Soul+, Joe performs drums. For fans of old-school and new-school R&B/Soul music.)

Country Soul Songbook (A platform which features BIPOC and LGBTQ+ voices in modern Country, Rock, and Roots music. Joe performs keyboards with the Thank You Ma’am Band. Joe also performs with Kamara Thomas’s solo project and Kym Register’s band, Meltdown Rodeo. Kamara Thomas is the founder of CSSB, and Kym Register is a core CSSB team member.)

Turnabout Players (Video Game Music performed in a Jazz-inspired improvisational format, Joe plays drums. Turnabout Players regularly hosts the Triangle VGM Jams, hosted at e-sports bar Bad Machines.)

Joe has worked as a session musician on ~100 records 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, Livestream Technician, Mix Engineer, and Assistant Engineer. Joe has done live sound at The Pinhook, The Mod, for Religious Services, and at Psychic Hotline’s Block Party. In Live Sound work, Joe initially focuses on eliminating mud and harshness through subtractive eq and gain staging and balancing the levels/dynamic range. Joe pushes the sound through a system in a manner that is catered to the genre being performed. Joe’s production instincts, musicianship and perfectionism inform his live sound work.

Joe has done mix engineering work for Dreamroot. He has mixed their live performance of Habits at North Star Church of the Arts, and their covers of Heart Don’t Stand A Chance and Spanish Joint. Joe has mixed SunSp.t’s releases.

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

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. “Tularosa is an exploration of American cultural identity through the mythology of the American West. The performance weaves together music, theater, ritual and archetypical visual elements in a direct response to the performance venue.”

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 compositions ranged from a pastiche showtune to an emotionally reflective Classical-style piece. Joe also improvised a score for a 2-4 minute comedy routine each night. 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. “Transcend is a sermonic musical performance created by Sangadare Wallace with support and direction from Toshi Reagon. It is performed by a network of local musicians and choir members. Transcend is a congregational journey that invites us to consider the imperative Light, Pray, and Grow. It draws on Black Church traditions from the Carolinas, Soul/R&B music, Black feminist legacies, and sacred texts, as well as African diasporic wisdom traditions.”

Joe has helped produce, engineer and mix compositions specifically intended for Sync Licensing libraries including 4 Elements Music and Mdiio. Dreamroot’s original music is available for licensing on the service Musicbed.

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 Tap Dance workshops and performances for Relative Rhythms. Joe has performed for Blues Dances with bands including Matt Phillips and Flutocracy. Joe has also performed for Contact Improv and The Living Arts Collective’s Ecstatic Dance.

Joe has worked as a Lead Teacher for BUMP: The Triangle, serving over 400 children around Durham through an African Diasporic curriculum including drumming and dancing.

Joe has worked as Lead Musician for Arts In Action, serving over 1200 throughout the Triangle providing live music for a 16-week residency dance curriculum designed for 4th Graders. The roles of a lead musician include performing improvised music, pre-written music, and acting as a teachers assistant when needed.

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.