Joe Barry, an early rock 'n' roll performer of Cajun descent from southern Louisiana, launched his recording activity on a regional scale in 1958. National exposure arrived in 1961 when Smash, a Mercury Records subsidiary, acquired his second Jin Records single, "I'm a Fool to Care," which climbed into the pop Top 40; the track also registered on the R&B charts and reached listeners in the U.K. Its successor, "Teardrops in My Heart," likewise entered the pop listings.
He maintained ties to Smash before moving to Nugget Records during the 1960s, yet withdrew from music as a full-time pursuit by the close of that decade. A self-titled country album appeared on ABC-Dot Records in 1977, and he issued the religious set Sweet Rose of Sharon three years later. Recording seemed finished until the first years of the new century, when, despite multiple ailments that restricted sustained singing to brief spans of no more than 30 seconds, he completed Been Down That Muddy Road for Night Train Records by adding vocal overdubs across two-and-a-half years; the album reached stores on August 19, 2003. Just over twelve months afterward, on August 31, 2004, he died in his birthplace of Cut Off, LA, from the same persistent illnesses.
