Joshua’s musical story starts at 14 years of age when he was singing happy birthday at a party and a girl he had a crush on told him “you have a great voice”. He laughed it off but the truth was he had been singing back up in his bedroom for Ariel, yes the Little Mermaid, at the early age of 3 (his mom says it was his favorite movie). So the week before his freshman year of high school he convinced his guidance counselor (and his dad) to change his schedule from Personal Fitness to Chorus. Joshua also had to give up baseball to do advanced chorus after school. He thought he would take the manliest route.

Throughout high school Joshua was a part of “praise teams” and punk bands. Joshua went on his 1st “tour” with his band SNA when he was 16. While most his friends spent spring break laying on the beach, Joshua was chasing his dreams and playing music every night for 10 days straight. “That week I learned to be content with sleeping in a van and taking showers at the beach.” He looks back now and realizes how much he learned. Stage presence was the first and foremost lesson Joshua learned while discovering his passion to engage an audience. He learned to be a performer and how to get past his introverted self and connect with people. He also became familiar with the business side of the music world. All this and Joshua was only 16 years old!

After SNA Joshua helped form a band called SS Legend. Their 1st gig was one of their most memorable moments. Two weeks after Joshua and Eric, the lead guitar player, got some musicians together they signed up for a battle of the bands. Eric and Joshua had written a couple songs together a few months prior but most of the set was covers that they threw together. Their biggest competition was a band that had been together for years. “We had been together for two weeks and we won!” SS Legend was less punk and more rock. “It’s where I first started putting pen to paper.” He came away from the band with confidence. “Like most teenagers, when I started high school I was searching for myself in various ways. The moment I found music and found I was able to express myself through music, I felt comfortable in my skin.”

“All these experiences led up to one event that stands out.” One evening soon after Joshua turned 17 years old his dad asked him to come to church with him. At the time his parents were going through a divorce and his dad didn’t have anyone to go to church with him. “God spoke through the words of the pastor and they were the words I needed to hear,” he recalled about the service. That night Joshua went home and opened up his Bible and then opened up his heart and accepted Jesus.

Starting his senior year of high school after such an experience was not easy. “The immediate struggle was being accepted by my friends. They didn’t accept the person I’d become because they only saw the person I was before.” Josh knew it was time to move on so he found a new lunch table. “Senior year was about actually growing up.” Joshua continued to advance in his music. “For the first time in my life music wasn’t just about me. My lyrics and song writing had taken on new meaning. It was about my relationship with Jesus.” Joshua had always had a heart for song writing and sharing his story with others, now he had even more to share.

Soon after high school graduation he led worship for Mission Venice, a local youth mission trip. At the beginning of the week Joshua was just a singer songwriter, but after much frustration with the guitarist being late he started playing guitar. By the end of the week he’d learned half a dozen songs on his new Wal-Mart guitar. That summer wherever Joshua went, his guitar was by his side. “I didn’t have to rely on someone else to write songs with, but it added pressure because writing something meaningful was solely my responsibility.”



Joshua’s first years of college were about fine-tuning his music by practicing everyday and taking vocal, guitar, and piano lessons. By bettering himself he was also able to excel in his song writing. “I feel like growing up fast and having to move out on my 18th birthday forced me to stop taking things for granted and helped me to live life to the fullest.” It was during this time that Joshua and Deanna started dating.

“It effected my writing the most,” he said speaking of how their relationship influenced his music. His songs come from real life experiences.

Many of the songs off his first album, “Hopefully Unfinished,” were written during this time. It started as a six song demo that he put together on a friends old school 4 track portable recording studio and burnt to blank CD’s. The demos were not enough. “For the first time in my life I felt like I had enough quality songs to make a compilation.” Joshua had many friends and family encouraging him and pushing him to put all his works together.

“My first album took more time than I would ever like to take making an album again. It took 12 months because I did everything on my own.” Joshua did all the song writing, recording, production, and mixing in his bedroom. He invested in his own recording equipment. “My Goodbye” is the song that stands out most to Joshua and his listeners. The song sprung from an experience Joshua had when he was 16. “I was suppose to go to a movie with my friend, so I went to pick her up. I knocked on the door and then I walked in. When I went into her room no one was there but there was a note on her bed.” Luckily he was able to find her in time to help her through her crisis but the lyrics are partially from the suicide note Joshua found that day.

“Miss You Everyday” is another one of the songs that stand out off of “Hopefully Unfinished.” “When I was waiting for my band one day before practice I started thinking about Deanna. I was thinking about the journey we had been on. When we first started dating she lived in New York and I lived in Florida. But even when she moved back to Florida I still missed her when I wasn’t with her.” The song describes some of the landmarks of their relationship and Joshua wrote it just months before he asked Deanna to marry him.



By this time he had his first job in ministry at River’s Edge Community Church as the worship leader. “When I started serving at River’s Edge I realized how many broken lives there were. Even at 17 God was using me in big ways in ministry and I just knew that it was something I would be doing for the rest of my life.” Joshua was also doing student ministry with Michael Head at the time and discovering the passion he had for investing in teenagers lives.

After River’s Edge Joshua worked as the contemporary worship leader at Trinity United Methodist Church for a year. “Trinity was the biggest sense of community I’ve ever had at a church. It felt like a really big family.” His church family was so caring that they supported Joshua with prayer as he followed God’s leading in his life to go to Houston, Texas to serve at Second Baptist Church. It was at the close of his time at Trinity that his first album was finished and they hosted a CD release/going away concert for him. “500 people showed up that night!” Friends and family came from many churches and cities in Florida, including Pastor Steve McCoy from River’s Edge and Pastor Jerry Milner from Trinity United Methodist who hosted and spoke that evening. It was a bitter sweet moment to leave the people who backed him so much but Joshua was ready to start a new chapter in his life.

“It was nerve racking leaving behind all I had established in Florida to come to a place I had never thought I would be.” At Second Baptist Joshua has had the opportunity to serve as a worship leader and a student minister. “The bar is higher here and I am constantly challenged to improve my music and worship leading. And the students really grab my heart.” It took a while for Joshua to adjust to the big city but he felt at home after the wedding when Deanna joined him.


Since living in Houston, Joshua began writing the songs for this new album “Motion Sick.” “The album wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for Clay Couvillon (Eleven28 Studios) who pursued me for this project and believed in my music. He had confidence that my second album would exceed my last and hooked me up with the financial backing and with Wire Roads Studios.”



The move from Florida to Houston prompted Joshua to write an abundance of the songs on the album including the title track “Motion Sick” which is a summary of the move from a familiar place to a whole new world. Other songs about this transitional time in Joshua's life include "Stuck in the Middle" and "Hallelujah". The incredible thing about most of these songs is that multiple meanings can be found in them. For instance, the song "Stuck in the Middle" is also about trying to follow your dreams while fighting against what the world says is normal.

The love song on the album has a particularly funny story. For months leading up to his wedding Joshua had been preparing a song on the piano to sing to his bride. The day before the wedding he found out that the venue did not have a piano! So that night at 11:00 p.m. he wrote the absolutely beautiful song entitled “We'll Be” on his guitar. Let the creative and the caffeine juices flow. Joshua and Deanna were married on 08.08.08. (Josh likes numbers.) The joyous excitement of the wedding and honeymoon was soon taken over by gloom and mourning.

Joshua singing 'We'll Be' for the first time at his wedding.

Joshua’s brother Scooter was down for the wedding but died tragically in a car accident leaving town after the newly weds came back from their trip.

Joshua's brother Scooter: closest to the camera
The night before he died, Scooter had asked Joshua to promise him that Joshua would write a song with Scooter's lyrical poetry. When they found Scooter’s belongings after the car accident there wasn't much, but one item that was left was a small piece of paper with a poem written on it. Joshua took the scrap of paper and wrote the song "Last Breath". "Last Breath", is the only song co-written on the entire album and Joshua is very proud to have written a song with his brother Scooter.
Joshua's brother Scooter at Josh and Deanna's wedding 2 weeks prior to his car accident.

Aside from the new album Joshua has been very busy with music. Joshua is currently working full time at Second Baptist Church, which is the 2nd largest church in the nation. He also plays out in the community as much as he can including premiere venues such as The Meridian, Ecclesia, and Numbers. You can also find him on school campuses, at coffee shops and sometimes even on the street. “I look at every moment of my life as an opportunity to share Christ through the gifts and talents He has given me. Whether it be at schools, coffee shops or Jacuzzis.” He also made it to the top 50 of Americas Got Talent last season for Vegas Week. Joshua pursues music and ministry down any avenues that open. Most would compare his musical style with that of The Fray, Jason Mraz, Augustana, and John Mayer.

Joshua's hope is that amongst all his songs the listener can feel a part of his music and also find meaning for their own life. “My biggest goal is always to feel like I can share my experience with my audience and that they can also share their experiences with me. Through that we can make a connection and build relationship.” Joshua’s heart is simply to bring people together through music and to help them to find their meaning. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.