By Markos Papadatos
On November 11, 2010, Suite101 was afforded the privilege to speak with Season 2 American Idol fourth place finalist, country singer Josh Gracin.
Josh Gracin Discusses Musical Influences, American Idol and the Marine Corps
Josh Gracin has been influenced by various genres of music such as Motown, R&B, rock music and as he indicates "Garth Brooks got me into country music."
Gracin remarks about his American Idol experience "I miss going out there and improving myself; putting myself out there every week to showcase what I can do."
Gracin’s eponymous debut album was certified gold and scored three Top 5 singles, one of which, "Nothin' to Lose," went to #1 on the Billboard Country Charts. Gracin remarks “it felt great to have success that quick. I didn’t expect things to come that quickly, but they did.”
The hardest aspect of Gracin's job is "being political," he laughs. "Learning to adjust to everyone and anyone and their personalities as far as colleagues, fellow singers and songwriters, and some people in the business."
As a former U.S. Marine Corps member, Gracin states that "the Marine Corps had a huge impact on my life since it gave me what I needed to succeed and the will to keep moving forward."
Josh Gracin Talks About his New Album, Future Plans and Collaborations
Josh Gracin co-produced and co-wrote every song from his new album, entitled "She’s a Different Kind of Crazy." His personal favorite tune from this upcoming album is "Enough." On his new album, Gracin remarks "every single song is a piece of me. It is something I went through or experienced, so I am very excited about this album and the possibilities. I am able to draw from it and write about that."
Gracin continues, "this new album is my proudest professional accomplishment. I’ve written everything on it, and co-produced it and it is something I set out to do this year. I am looking forward to seeing what happens with it."
He notes that his song "Stay With Me" from his debut record is "a lot of people’s favorites and it still does very, very well for me."
On his new album "She’s a Different Kind of Crazy," Gracin remarks "it’s an album that takes you on a journey through all the genres I loved growing up. It’s all country music, every single song on there, but you can hear influences from all the different genres that I loved to listen to. I think that’s the cool thing about this album and why I was so excited about writing it."
Gracin further adds "it was an experience for me to hear the influences coming out of the song without making the song another genre. I wasn’t trying to write a country song like a Motown song. It just came out like that. That has to do with the fact that I loved music from a young age, and music has influenced me greatly and it is coming through in my writing."
In the future, Josh Gracin would like to collaborate with "anybody in Nashville. I think everybody in Nashville has a different perspective, a different style and a different look on how to do music and how to perform it. Any time you have two different styles or two different artists in the same realm, you never know what’s going to happen or come out of it. It’ll be exciting to see that kind of collaboration."
"Cover Girl" was the first single from the album." A new single is coming out in the beginning of the next year with the new album. We’re focused and determined, and hoping that the new year will bring great things."
Gracin’s plans for the future include "to make things bigger and better. I am always looking to grow. Hopefully, I will be able to do that soon. It all comes with getting a big single out on the radio."
Josh Gracin Talks About Balancing a Music Career and a Family Life
On balancing a family life and a music career, Gracin remarks "I have a great counterpart, a great wife at home to balance everything out. It takes the stress off of me and she helps me 'hold the fort down' there. It makes me able to go out there and do what I need to do without having to worry too much about at home."
Josh Gracin Offers Advice for Hopefuls in Country Music
For hopefuls who wish to make it in the country music industry, Gracin states "the only advice I could give is to be who you are and to be yourself. Don’t try to be like somebody else. It doesn’t do anything to separate you. Do what you want to do and do what you love: from how you look to the music that you decide to write or sing and perform."
For Josh Gracin “success” means "everything. I’ve always been the kind of person that’s always thinking of things to do, and doing them in a certain way. I think that's the kind of personality I’ve always been. I think I’ve finally done that."
For his fans, Josh Gracin concludes "thank you for sticking around. It was the hardest decision for me to take off from being on the radio, but it was the most important thing I had to do to come out with the best music possible. I really feel that I was able to do that with this new album, and hopefully when the album is released next year, you guys will see and appreciate this fact and love this album as much, or even more, as you did with the first two albums."
Many thanks to Josh Gracin for granting this interview!
Read more at Suite101: Spotlight on Josh Gracin http://www.suite101.com/content/spotlight-on-josh-gracin-a307449#ixzz15AXSVH9d
