Results tagged “joshuajames”

What’s the Deal: It almost doesn’t make sense. This guy should be a huge mainstream success. He’s played with John Mayer and David Gray, and he even shares the melodically raspy vocal style of the former. His recordings are near spotless, with gorgeous acoustics and catchy choruses. It’s got to be his total lack of interest in writing meaningless, rhyming lyrics for the club about a girl and how her body is a “wonderland” Instead, his songs, which stay true to the storytelling style of folk songwriting, involve subject matter that’s much more serious and at times pretty dark. He sings about the Iraq war, his brother’s drug addiction, cancer, vengeance and even the Holocaust. There’s a definite dichotomy of light and dark, heavy and weightless going on in his music. The words are weighty, the sounds are airy. He sings some about God and an afterlife, but with a certain amount of fear, honesty and vulnerability. The self-destructive and fragile nature of the human condition is a major theme.