Joe Sun (born James Joseph Paulsen on September 25, 1943 in Rochester, Minnesota) is a country music singer, songwriter of Swedish descent living in Nashville, Tennessee. His musical style is strongly influenced by a wide variety of artists: Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Waylon Jennings and Bob Dylan, spanning such diverse musical genres as soul, blues, honky tonk, rock 'n' roll, contemporary and traditional country. He describes his music as blues and country.

He spent his youth in college and then in the Air Force. He did various jobs, such as working as a DJ at Radio WMAD in Madison, Wisconsin and at a Key West, Florida rock station and he spent two years with a computer firm in Chicago. While in Chicago, he sang with a variety of semi-pro bands, working under the name "Jack Daniels". He was listening to southern music on country's 50,000 watt WSM and rhythm and blue's WLAC radio.

In 1972, he made his way to Nashville, giving himself five years to "make it" as a musician. For a time, he ran