Joel Olson started out playing the guitar at nine years-old; he was coerced into playing trombone in the school band because he had long arms, and he began an obsessive/compulsive relationship with the banjo in 1986 at nineteen.

By day, Joel is a high school English teacher and makes his home in St. Francis, Minnesota with wife Glenn Ellen and daughters Zoey, Abilene, and Jolie.