Joe Tollefsen was born and raised in South Carolina, where he started playing classical guitar and building cigar box guitars. He was invited to play on the NPR radio program “From the Top” in his senior year of high school, after which he began his collegiate studies, entering the double degree program at Johns Hopkins University and the Peabody Institute of Music. He is currently studying classical guitar performance and Writing Seminars.
Among Joe’s many musical projects has been the building of cigar box guitars, which he sold throughout high school under the business name “Outside the Box Guitars.” He has also written and recorded music, played in a band, and is currently in a guitar duo and a guitar-saxophone-percussion quartet.