Explore the Cardboard World with Joe Sumner.
July 07, 2026
Some artists don’t need much. Give them a guitar, a quiet room, and an idea worth chasing.
Joe Sumner is one of those artists.
Raised around great songwriting but never hiding behind it, Joe has spent years carving out a voice that’s thoughtful, lived-in, and entirely his own. For this Cardboard Session, we handed him a cardboard guitar and a simple prompt: have fun.
What happened next is exactly why we keep doing this.
Joe left with something none of us saw coming, a new song inspired by what he calls “current events.” A reflection on living in a Cardboard World. Along the way, he plays every instrument in the session, building the song piece by piece with nothing more than instinct, imagination, and a room full of cardboard.
There’s something about cardboard. Strip away the polish, the expectations, the noise…and you’re left with instinct. Story. Melody. The things that matter.
Turns out, cardboard has a way of pulling different out of an artist.
Welcome to Cardboard Sessions, where the simplest material in the room has a habit of making the music feel a little more honest.
Made possible by Ernest.
Check him out on e+.
