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In the early '90s Joseph Arthur was recording home demos, playing local Atlanta clubs and working at Clark Music Store. As luck should have it, Peter Gabriel's A&R associate Harvey Schwartz was presenting him some new artists at his apartment in New York City, one of the demo tapes being Joseph's first EP Cut and Blind. Once Gabriel heard the lyrics to "History," he repeated the line "your history acts as your gravity" over and over, realizing the talented songwriter was a great fit for his label Real World Records. Both he and Schwartz arranged a live audition at the Fez in NYC, where Arthur flew up from Atlanta. The night was clearly a success as Gabriel had enlisted friend Lou Reed to record the show. Within a few months Arthur was signed, and recording for his debut album began at Gabriel's Real World Studios with producer Marcus Dravs (experimental Björk engineer). The debut album Big City Secrets was released worldwide in March 1997. Two years later, Joseph recorded an EP called Vacancy, which earned him a Grammy nomination for best artistic packaging.

April 2000 saw the release of Come to Where I'm From, the album that, for the first time, exposed him to a larger audience (also thanks to opening up for Ben Harper and Gomez). During the same period, a live album recorded at the Gypsy Tea Room in Dallas, Texas saw a promotional release. After releasing a series of 4 tour-only EPs called Junkyard Hearts, his third album, Redemption's Son, came out in May 2002 in the UK (and November 2002 in the US).

In the middle of a long and successful tour during which performances were, to a large extent, recorded and sold immediately after the last note had been played, he found time to release one more album: an alternative rock project called Holding The Void (featuring Joseph on vocals and guitar, and Rene Lopez on drums).

Summer 2003 saw him on tour with Tracy Chapman in the US. After signing a new recording contract with Vector Recordings, Arthur finished working on his fourth official full album, Our Shadows Will Remain, released October 2004. While touring the US alone and with Joan Wasser, a new EP called And the Thieves Are Gone came out in December 2004. Shortly afterwards, Arthur went on a brief tour with R.E.M. throughout Europe.

Arthur spent 2005 again on tour in both the US and Europe. Arthur staged his first art exhibition in 2006 at the Vertigo Gallery in London from February 10 to February 12. He also contributed a design to the Yellow Bird Project for the benefit of Mercy Corps. Also in 2006, Joseph and longtime professional partner Lauren Pattenaude started his own record label, Lonely Astronaut Records. He released an artbook with accompanying instrumental CD in May 2006, titled The Invisible Parade (CD) + We Almost Made It (book). He recorded and released his fifth official studio album Nuclear Daydream--the first release on his label--in September 2006, nine days before his 35th birthday.

His song "In the Sun" was covered by Michael Stipe (of R.E.M.) and Coldplay singer Chris Martin in 2006 for a Hurricane Katrina Relief program. The EP includes 6 versions of the cover, one of which has Arthur himself singing with Stipe, and another remixed by Justin Timberlake. (The song has also been covered by Peter Gabriel for Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed tribute CDs).

On March 26, 2007, 14th Floor Records (Joseph's label in the UK) released a re-recorded version of his 2002 song "Honey and the Moon" as a special single in the UK only. April 17, 2007 saw the US release of his sixth studio album, Let's Just Be, the first album recorded with his band The Lonely Astronauts. 16 of the reported 80 songs that he and the band recorded in late 2006 yielded the Let's Just Be album (though it is uncertain whether the remaining 64 songs will ever see the light of day or not). A US tour followed the album's release.

Joseph quickly started working on the follow-up to Let's Just Be. In January 2008, it was announced that Joseph would be releasing 4 brand new EPs and one new full-length album throughout 2008, beginning with Could We Survive on March 18, 2008. The second EP, titled Crazy Rain, is set to be released on April 15, 2008.

Joseph played seven solo shows during the SXSW 2008 Festival: six in Austin and one in Dallas.[1] His seventh studio album All You Need Is Nothing is set for release on August 5, 2008.