To see the “good karma boomerang” live and in person is a
rare sight. There are times something
good happens to you and you wonder what good deed you bestowed upon someone to
receive something in return? To be in
the presence of Josh Abbott, you see it unfold right in front of your
eyes. Josh is a relative newcomer to the
Texas Country scene and has had about the most successful beginning as one can
only hope to have with sold out shows and rabid fans everywhere he goes. And the good karma he gives back to his loyal
followers, putting on great show, being as down to earth and personable as
possible, and even helping a desperate fan get in at the last moment when a
show might be sold out. We had a chance
to sit down with Josh just before he hit the stage in early January and he was
generous enough to give us his thoughts and ideas on where he came from and
where he sees The Josh Abbott Band going from here.
LoneStar Outlaw: “As someone who takes pride in writing his
own material and having it based on your life or someone close to you, does it
get harder to do by being on the road so much and maybe not able to have those
experiences anymore to write about?”
Josh Abbott: “It does get harder with every album and that’s
part of the reason why this next album is going to feature songs written by
other artists such as Adam Hood and Brian Keane as well as myself. The more successful you become the more it
becomes a business with meetings and
other obligations and that’s why I finally had to schedule time to write and
treat it like a job. It does become more
daunting at times but it is still so overwhelmingly special to see a fan
singing along to a song you wrote and know you’ve made a connection.”
LSO: “With the huge success of “She’s Like Texas”, do you
feel pressure to live up to its awards and accolades or are you using that as a
barometer to motivate you to even further success?”
JA: “I knew it was a great song personally and thought that
it would be liked to the audience but had no idea things would take off the way
they did. I don’t feel the pressure to
live up to that album’s success because I am always trying to better myself, my
song writing, my stage show for the fans.
If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have this dream job.”
LSO: “A quote I came across from you is “to me, the value of
the education is more important than the paper of the degree”. Are you able to apply that same logic to your
career and if so, how”
JA: “You know, the life lessons you learn on the road are
priceless. It’s equivalent to being in
college and learning everything they teach you and then getting out into the
real world and realizing things are much more different then what you expected. I try to go about this business the right
way; appreciating the fans, learning from my mistakes, and remembering what
goes around comes around. It’s been
great to see the fan base grow as it is a representation of our growth in both
gelling as a band and reaching a broader audience. The ends are more than the
means, man.”
LSO: “I noticed you are always on Twitter and Facebook, how
helpful do you think these social networks are to a bands growth”?
JA: “It’s extremely helpful.
It lets you get to be personal with people without being in their face. It keeps you connected to what’s going on,
what people want to see or hear, ways we might be able to improve our
show. Listening and interacting with the
fans helps us keep a pulse to what’s going on in a way that we might miss. “
LSO: “Lastly, we ask all
the guys this but what is the one thing you can’t live without on the tour
bus?”
JA: “X-Box, without a doubt”.
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