Joseph Campbell Butler was born on September 16, 1941 in Glen Cove, Long Island. His father worked as a cop, and says that Joe 
got all of his musical talent from his mother, who once lost a talent contest against a nobody named Frank Sinatra. Joe initially tried trombone, then guitar, but finally settled on drums. He established a dedicated work ethic early in life; as a child, he operated his own paper route and also washed dishes at a soda shoppe. Joe was a product of a working-class family, unlike many of the kids he grew up with on the Island.
At 13, Joe joined his first band, a trio with an accordian player and a guitarist that would mostly play in delicatessens. Later, he enlisted in the military and enrolled at Long Island University and was a business student. However, upon moving to Greenwich Village in 1964, he left his days in the service behind him, along with his college career (even though he had enough credits to graduate, he hadn't met the requirements for business majors).
In the Village, he was the drummer for the Sell Outs, a band that is generally regarded as being the first rock act in the area. Fate came calling when John Sebastian and Zal Yanovsky asked him to join the Spoonful, and the rest is history.
After the Spoonful, Joe starred onstage in productions of Hair (on Broadway), Mahogany, and Soon, as well as in movies like Born to Win. However, Joe felt strange without music as his driving force and decided that a major career change was in order and he became a residential construction worker. He rapidly moved through the ranks and soon became a foreman, supervising large-scale projects.
Today, Joe is still touring with old bandmates Steve Boone and Jerry Yester as a new incarnation of the Spoonful. He has been married twice and has a daughter, Yancy, who is an actress.