"Translates Into Song" : An Interview With Joshua James

Story by Mitch McCann 

| Published Apr 19, 2011

Joshua James is a rare breed -- as genuine a human as one could ever hope to meet. At times blatantly political, but always true to himself, his family, and his friends. A Lincoln native who had to hide his obsession with music from a rigid home life, he grew into song more organically than anyone who had been raised in it.

James, an acclaimed singer/songwriter who only a short while ago could hardly pick his guitar or plunk around on a piano, has been featured in FX’s “Sons of Anarchy’”and made iTunes Top Singer/Songwriter Playlist in 2009 for his album Build Me This.

From songs like “Crash This Train”--a scathing, direct letter to the head of our nation--to “Commodore,” a lyrical masterpiece, and “The New Love Song” James strives to draw out the beauty in everything. The Dailyer tracked down Lincoln’s pride and joy for his first ever interview with a Nebraska publication.


DailyER: It seems like you took off a little time in late 2010 from the heavy touring (and recording) of the past few years. What was that experience like?

James: Pardon the terribly typical response, but traveling truly is something of a love and hate relationship. I miss my lover, my animals, my home, my friends, my house when I leave. But in return the road gives an electricity to the soul that is hard to obtain through any other medium.

DerN: Do these new dates in March mean you’re back on the horse?

James: The horse of which you speak has been broken, but is slowly mending himself back together. I needed a break. I was touring around 150-200 days a year and it was time to focus on a few other things. Life runs quickly; I can't kill myself too young.

DerN: Has any particular part of Nebraska made its way into your music?

James: Nebraska is where I grew up. I fell in love here, I lost family here, I learned about what I was, where I was heading. It’s (locationally speaking) the biggest influence on me and my music.

DerN: How would you say you approach religion in music? How does one influence the other for you?

James: Religion isn't really the question, it’s God. It’s death. That’s more what I approach when singing about the topic. Religion (in the typical sense) has become quite a foreign thing to me as of late. The idea of "One Truth", or "One Road" seems ungodly to me. God and the thought of him/her/it is a big theme in my life, and therefore translates into song.

DerN: I saw you mention Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s as a model of yours. Any other influences or recommendations?

James: I do like Margot; I really enjoyed their first release. Other recommendations? Sure, but there are so many. The new Damien Jurado is insane, the new National, Adam Hayworth Stephens from Two Gallants is great too. There's so much good music being made. It makes it hard to want to create. But: create we must, or to death we go. As for books, I just read "The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy Egan on the Dust Bowl of the 30's. [It was] quite insane what those midwestern farmers went through.

DerN: Maybe it’s just my own take on the song, but "Crash This Train" rings to me as a song written during the Bush years. Do you think it still holds true today?

James: I suppose it was written due to the heightened senses that I was feeling during that time, but I apply it to other things when singing it live, and it still gets my insides moving.

DerN: These days the internet’s possibilities are truly endless, but one thing it seems to be doing is moving the ‘indie’ scene (as a whole) into the mainstream, to a place where artists like you can really become noticed in a grand way, or where Arcade Fire can take “Best Album”. What is your take on that?

James: [It’s] wonderful. I think that it is great, [“The Suburbs”] is superb, and they deserved it. I think musically we are heading in the right direction. Now, if we could just start thinking about the future of our society, then we will be making some headway.