Featured Narrator
Joe Barrett
About Joe Barrett



Joe Barrett began his acting career at the age of five, in the basement of his family's home in upstate New York. He played the non-speaking "Old Gardener" in a drama written by his seven older siblings. The character was murdered in the opening scene, setting the plot in motion. Joe does not remember the plot but knows the murder was gruesome and heinous. He has gone on to play many stage roles, old and young, both on and off-Broadway and in regional theaters from Los Angeles, Houston, and St. Louis to Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Portland, Maine. He has also appeared in films and on television, and in hundreds of television and radio commercials.

Joe is a two-time Audie Award finalist and has won six Earphones Awards from AudioFile Magazine...Show More »

Joe Barrett's Most Recent Performances
Play Narrows Gate
Narrows Gate
Jim Fusilli

Narrows Gate

  • UNABRIDGED (17 hrs and 33 mins)
  • By Jim Fusilli
  • Narrated By Joe Pantoliano, Joe Barrett
  • Whispersync for Voice-ready
Overall
(258)
Performance
(72)
Story
(67)

A powerful epic novel in the spirit of The Godfather and On the Waterfront, Narrows Gate follows the lives of three men as they clash with the dangerous and seductive environment of a Mob-riddled New Jersey waterfront town before, during, and after World War II.

James says: "Great fun!"
Play Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry
Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry
Steven Rattner

Overhaul: An Insider's Account of the Obama Administration's Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry

  • UNABRIDGED (13 hrs and 32 mins)
  • By Steven Rattner
  • Narrated By Joe Barrett
  • Whispersync for Voice-ready
Overall
(18)
Performance
(11)
Story
(11)

This first real look inside Team Obama mixes political warfare and big-business shakeups in equal proportions, and comes from a uniquely informed source. Steve Rattner is not just the man brought in by the president to save the auto industry, he is a former New York Times financial reporter who also earned a place among the top tier of Wall Street's most informed investment bankers and corporate experts.

Roy says: "Overhaul - A Memoir"
Play The Mansion: A Novel of the Snopes Family
The Mansion: A Novel of the Snopes Family
William Faulkner

The Mansion: A Novel of the Snopes Family

  • UNABRIDGED (15 hrs)
  • By William Faulkner
  • Narrated By Joe Barrett
Overall
(3)
Performance
(1)
Story
(1)

The Mansion tells of Mink Snopes, whose archaic sense of honor brings about the downfall of his cousin Flem.

Bernard says: "Narrator makes Faulkner Accessible"
Play Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love
Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love
Larry Levin

Oogy: The Dog Only a Family Could Love

  • UNABRIDGED (5 hrs and 9 mins)
  • By Larry Levin
  • Narrated By Joe Barrett
Overall
(92)
Performance
(47)
Story
(48)

In the best-selling tradition of Rescuing Sprite comes the story of a puppy brought back from the brink of death, and the family he adopted. Heartwarming and redemptive, Oogy is the story of the people who were determined to rescue this dog against all odds, and of the family who took him home, named him "Oogy" (an affectionate derivative of ugly), and made him one of their own.

SomervilleWhereElse says: "Lovely story"
Essential Listening
Start your listening with these ultimate performances!
  • Play A Prayer for Owen Meany
    A Prayer for Owen Meany
    UNABRIDGED

    A Prayer for Owen Meany

    • UNABRIDGED (27 hrs and 20 mins)
    • By John Irving
    • Narrated By Joe Barrett
    Overall
    (683)
    Performance
    (63)
    Story
    (64)

    Why we think it’s a great listen: For 20 years, John Irving believed that his ambitious novel could never be adequately executed in audio – and then he met narrator Joe Barrett.... In the summer of 1953, two 11-year-old boys - best friends - are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy's mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn't believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument.

    Maxine Fuentes says: "Wonderful"
    An Audible Modern Vanguard production, A Prayer for Owen Meany won Barrett an AudioFile Earphones Award for his spot-on narration of Irving's classic.
  • Play The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King
    The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King
    UNABRIDGED

    The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King

    • UNABRIDGED (5 hrs and 59 mins)
    • By James Patterson, Martin Dugard
    • Narrated By Joe Barrett
    Overall
    (134)
    Performance
    (26)
    Story
    (25)

    In The Murder of Tut, James Patterson and Martin Dugard chronicle their epic quest to find out what happened to the boy-king. They comb through the evidence--X-rays, Carter's files, forensic clues--and scavenge for overlooked data to piece together the details of his life and death. The result is a true crime tale of intrigue, betrayal, and usurpation that presents a compelling case that King Tut's death was anything but natural.

    Kelly says: "Painful to listen to!"
    Barrett takes on the true story behind King Tut in Patterson and Dugard's thrilling investigation into the death of the boy-king.
  • Play 2012: The War for Souls
    2012: The War for Souls
    UNABRIDGED

    2012: The War for Souls

    • UNABRIDGED (12 hrs and 46 mins)
    • By Whitley Strieber
    • Narrated By Joe Barrett
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (241)
    Performance
    (42)
    Story
    (45)

    A mysterious alien presence unexpectedly bursts out of sacred sites all over the world and begins to rip human souls from their bodies, plunging the world into a chaos it has never before known. Courage meets cowardice; loyalty meets betrayal as an entire world struggles to survive this incredible end-all war. Heroes emerge, villains reveal themselves, and in the end, something completely new and unexpected happens that at once lifts the fictional characters into a new life and sounds a haunting real-world warning for the future.

    Patrick says: "Meh..."
    Listeners agree that Barrett keeps the plot spinning in this apocalyptic sci-fi thriller from the celebrated Whitley Streiber.
  • Play The Bonfire of the Vanities
    The Bonfire of the Vanities
    UNABRIDGED

    The Bonfire of the Vanities

    • UNABRIDGED (27 hrs and 28 mins)
    • By Tom Wolfe
    • Narrated By Joe Barrett
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (643)
    Performance
    (248)
    Story
    (255)

    Tom Wolfe's best-selling modern classic tells the story of Sherman McCoy, an elite Wall Street bond trader who has it all: wealth, power, prestige, a Park Avenue apartment, a beautiful wife, and an even more beautiful mistress - until one wrong turn sends Sherman spiraling downward into a humiliating fall from grace. A car accident in the Bronx involving Sherman, his girlfriend, and two young lower-class black men sets a match to the incendiary racial and social tensions of 1980s New York City.

    Alain says: "The Reader !"
    Tom Wolfe's classic debut novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities , is made even better in audio with Barrett's five-star narration.
  • Play The New York Trilogy
    The New York Trilogy
    UNABRIDGED

    The New York Trilogy

    • UNABRIDGED (12 hrs and 26 mins)
    • By Paul Auster
    • Narrated By Joe Barrett
    Overall
    (22)
    Performance
    (0)
    Story
    (0)

    Paul Auster's signature work, The New York Trilogy, consists of three interlocking novels: City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room - haunting and mysterious tales that move at the breathless pace of a thriller.

    Jon G. Jackson says: "Trilogy York New The"
    The seasoned narrator of Paul Auster's classic novels for Audible Modern Vanguard, Barrett masterfully captures the psychological misgivings of a set of New York's everyman characters.