Joe Sumner Debuts “Current Events” Inspired by Cardboard Sessions Experience

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 exceptional songwriting (not surprising, given that he’s the son of Sting), Joe has never relied on his family name. Instead, he’s spent years carving out a voice that’s thoughtful, authentic, 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 what makes the Cardboard Sessions by Ernest Packaging special.

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 cardboard 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. Welcome to Cardboard Sessions, where the simplest material in the room has a habit of making the music feel a little more honest.