About This:
Josh Grider is following his muse, and she is leading him in a new musical direction. It is not a departure from form. It is more like continuing further along the road he has already been traveling. Following 2007’s critically acclaimed Million Miles to Go, which included the Texas Chart fave “Crazy Like You”, it would have been easier for Grider to hire a stage full of top guns and rest on his laurels, playing the dancehalls and honky tonks. However, Josh realized there is a bigger world out there, and his music could easily cross over to other audiences. To reach beyond his core audience, Grider decided to focus on the universality and catchiness of the songs themselves-- out of the context of a style or musical idiom-- and completely revamped his touring group and arrangements to accommodate a sparser, acoustic, Americana inspired trio. "Texas music, country music, folk music and rock-- it is all American music, and speaks to life in America and beyond, whether you live in Austin or New England or Alaska," says Grider. Even though he thinks describing the band’s sound is like dancing about architecture, Josh suggests that “Everybody knows who Merle Haggard is, everybody knows who Dave Matthews is, so if you say we meet in the middle, that’s kind of what’s goin’ on. It’s got the boogie in it.” This is more than a singer-songwriter with a rhythm section. The three distinct individuals that make up the JG3 have all contributed to crafting the new direction-- or, as they look at it-- natural evolution of Josh Grider’s sound. Grider’s lyrics are still the sort that stop you a little short when you fully realize their intensity, but they breathe more easily in the trio format. Musically, the trio provides the freedom to explore other sounds and ideas,like Latin, funk and jazz, while opening up more space for bluesy improvisation. The rhythm section has even evoked comparisons to Soul Coughing, while Josh himself has had unlikely references to Jack Johnson tossed his way. With “a million miles to go’ still, The Josh Grider Trio is taking it one step and one fan at a time as they broaden their horizons and the horizons of their fans as well! Josh Grider never said he was going to take the easy route. The road less traveled suits him just fine.