Arthur released his debut album, Big City Secrets (1997), and follow-up, Come to Where I'm From (2000), on Real World before signing with various independent labels between 2002 and 2006.

Arthur subsequently returned to performing and recording as a solo artist, releasing The Graduation Ceremony in 2011 and the double album, Redemption City in 2012.

In 2013, Arthur started a Pledge Music campaign to fund the release of his tenth studio album, The Ballad of Boogie Christ.

[5] In the early 1990s, Arthur relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, continuing to record home demos, playing local clubs and working as a guitar salesman at Clark Music Store.

[6] Arthur recorded his debut album at Gabriel's Real World Studios in England with producer Markus Dravs (Björk, Coldplay, Arcade Fire).

The debut album Big City Secrets was released worldwide in spring 1997, and Arthur joined Gabriel's WOMAD tour in Europe.

[2] Big City Secrets displayed Arthur's often angsty and emotionally wrought lyrics coupled with diverse instrumentation, which he himself described as "someone struggling to heal over experimental folk-rock",[7] but went virtually unnoticed by the mainstream.

After releasing a series of four EPs called Junkyard Hearts, which were only available to purchase at his live shows, his third album, Redemption's Son, came out in May 2002 in the UK.

The American release was delayed until November 2002 since Arthur had been dropped by EMI in North America, having been picked up by Universal Music Group imprint Enjoy Records.

[12] The double album furthered the themes of emotional and spiritual dislocation found on Come to Where I'm From,[13] and was described by Allmusic reviewer Thom Jurek as a "sleeper hit".

Arthur toured the US alone and with Joan Wasser to promote the album, and a new EP called And the Thieves Are Gone, which collected unreleased tracks from the Shadows recording sessions, came out in December.

In August 2006, Joseph was invited to help launch the project A River Blue, where a group of young people in northern Uganda were brought together to participate in a music, drama, and art festival.

He released a book entitled We Almost Made It, a visual collection of his artworks, along with an accompanying instrumental CD titled The Invisible Parade in May 2006.

On March 26, 2007, Joseph's then-UK label 14th Floor Records released a re-recorded version of his 2002 song "Honey and the Moon" as a special single in the UK only.

[26] In 2008, Arthur released four EPs in a four-month span: Could We Survive on March 18, Crazy Rain on April 15, Vagabond Skies on June 10, and Foreign Girls on July 8.

The album was received warmly by critics, with The Times Online stating that it "evokes the loose, rocking swagger and country melancholy of early-1970s Stones",[31] and Crawdaddy!

noting that Arthur "treats his audience to a brawny and brooding rock album, notching his most fully realized LP to date in the process.

[35] Arthur, Ben Harper, and Dhani Harrison formed the supergroup trio Fistful of Mercy in 2010, and their debut album As I Call You Down was released on October 5, 2010.

[37][38] In 2012, Arthur released a double album, Redemption City, and collaborated with Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament in the band, RNDM.

In a statement, Arthur noted, "With the music business being what it is nowadays, unless you break out big or become a license darling, there are precious few alternatives to fund one's work.

For this release, Joseph Arthur acquired a Steinway Vertegrand piano from the early 1900s, moved it into his Red Hook, Brooklyn studio and saved it from the storm (Hurricane Sandy) by propping it up on cinderblocks, while the neighborhood flooded.

He staged his first art exhibition in 2006 at the Vertigo Gallery in London from February 10 to 12,[46] and released a 110-page book entitled We Almost Made It, a visual collection of his artworks, along with an accompanying instrumental CD titled The Invisible Parade in May 2006.

He set up his personal art gallery The Museum of Modern Arthur in June 2007 as a brick and mortar location in Brooklyn's DUMBO District.

The show was a long-form interview/conversation format discussing the creative process, health and fitness, psychology, diet, current events, spirituality, poetry, rock n roll, and Art.