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1.) We’re super-excited to be speaking today with acclaimed Americana singer and songwriter Joshua Espinosa; greetings and salutations Joshua and thanks for being here with us at Vents Magazine! Before we dive into the Q&A rabbit hole, how is the latter-part of 2025 finding you and yours?
Hey! Yeah, glad to be talking with you! Me and mine are doing great, really. The album’s released, there’s been so much love surrounding it, and it’s just nice to be able to sit back and appreciate all the work that went into this moment.
2.) Major kudos and accolades on your stunner of a debut album AMERICAÑA which is set to wow listening audiences when it drops this October 17! Starting at the top, can you talk about what inspired this drop-the-mic of an LP?
Aw, thanks for the kind words about it. At the end of the day, I was just trying to capture a bunch of songs that I’d written over the years. I love music of all kinds so much, and there are interesting elements that can be pulled from any style. All of that adds up to what I think is my genre-agnostic approach to music. I’m not a blues player nor a bluegrass picker, rocker or whatever — but all that and more shows up in some way, shape or form in my playing. Ultimately, I just wanted to reflect that idea.
3.) Your producer on Americaña is none other than rightly lauded wunderkind songwriter Kevin Bowe! What was it like collaborating with Kevin on this freshman album?
Kevin is just suuuuch a cool guy, man! His own love of music and experience recording a variety of genres was exactly what I needed to make this record. He was able to bring out not only the best in the songs, but the best in me, and for that I’ll always be truly grateful.
4.) Speaking of collaborations, can you introduce our ever-inquisitive readers to the amazing musicians who lent their own unique wares to Americaña?
Well, the whole thing kicks off with buttery tremelo keys lick from Scottie Miller. Watching him record his part on New Year’s Day this past year is now a core life event for me. Sarah Morris (who’s new album ’Say Yes’ is amazing) sings some Emmylou-style harmonies throughout the album. Watching Monique Blakey sing all those gospel harmonies was a wow moment for me. The legendary Tommy Barbarella is there with some Wurli and B3. There’s Ken Wilson who almost made me cry with the ‘Dark Forest Trees’ pedal steel. Tommy Vee slaps the upright in contrast to the uke on ‘Pure Water’. Paul Odegaard with a trumpet that just makes you ache on ‘Pittsburgh,’ David Budimir giving us that NOLA sound on ‘Mud’ and Peter Anderson, who’s band Maygen & the Birdwatcher also just put out a cool album, on the drums. Kevin plays bass and all sorts of other stuff, and I handled a lot of stuff, too.
5.) We’re big admirers of the tune Saturday Night which stands front-and-center on the new Americaña LP! What’s the VH1-Behind the Music origin story on this gem of a ditty?
Haha, probably that episode would be rated R for mature content. But basically, it’s about the promise and possibilities of your good ol’ fashioned Saturday night — against the backdrop of a seedy dude getting loaded and then going out to find…well, you know. The lyrics tell you everything you want to know!
Anyway, I always loved books in the vein of ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’ by Hubert Selby, Jr., where there’s this underbelly of humanity that is hard to look at. I guess I like to explore it because it’s so uncomfortable for most people, but I find it rich with new ways of looking at things and largely undiscovered in modern songwriting.
6.) Though we introduced you at the tip-top as an Americana artist, Americaña not only basks in that genre of music, but also dips into the sweet sounds of bar room blues, bluegrass and even some New Orleans second line styling as well as 1970s rock and roll and 1990s alternative! Was it part of the overall plan to curate these various genres so lovingly into the album, or did this happen more organically than all that?
There was definitely no plan going into the project that we were going to do a bunch of genres as a concept. I think in general, my wide variety of influences take me in a lot of different directions as songs are getting written, and Kevin has this thing he says, that the song will tell us what it needs, and that absolutely happened.
All we had to do was pick the ones we wanted to record, and then it’s like, hey ‘Mud’ should have a draggy New Orleans beat, ‘Whiskey’ is more of a flatpicking bluegrass style and so on. To me, I’m always just writing whatever song is coming out, and that kind of cross-blending I think will come out on every album I ever produce because it’s simply who I am.
7.) In the wake of the October 17 release of your pip of a debut album Americaña, can fans look forward to catching you on the touring/performing circuit?
Oh man, I’m tired! And, they already got me playing lead guitar in a show this weekend!
But in all seriousness, I do have some small local gigs lined up and haven’t really been working that hard to hunt for more right now. Me and my band The Gut Buckets gigged hard all summer and then hustled our tails off for the release show at The Bryant Lake Bowl Theater in Minneapolis. It was so fun and such a good crowd.
8.) You hail from the beautiful state of Minnesota, a land steeped in music from such artists as Judy Garland, Prince, and Bob Dylan, to name but a few (looking at you, Paul Westerberg and The Replacements)! How integral to your musical stylings is Minnesota? Is she a bit of a silent muse for you?
I moved to Minneapolis from CA in 2012, and I absolutely love it here. So many people hate the winter but I love it because it’s such a great time to reflect, reminisce and feel sentimental. All of those things are great for writing. Not to mention all the nature. My in-laws live up north in the woods, and I write there often. Not to mention, being new on the music scene here, all the people I’ve had the privilege of meeting throughout this process have been so gracious.
9.) As a singer and songwriter, which generally tends to come first for you – The lyrics or the music? Or is it a bit more freeform than all that?
I would say that’s kind of a chicken and egg question for me. There are definitely times where something I play inspires some lyrics and vice versa, but I tend to do a lot of writing without an instrument in my hand. Just observe, think and let my hand go.
I also tend to do a lot of playing that has nothing to do with writing, so it isn’t really until I intentionally come to the table with the purpose to write songs that I start putting the two components together. So by then, I might have musical ideas that I’ve been messing around with that I want to find words for and can go searching through my writings to see if anything is jumping out at me.
10.) At the end of the day, what do you hope listeners walk away with after giving many-a-spin to your beautiful new LP Americaña?
If someone listens to it, I hope they enjoy it. That’s really all. I had a lot of fun writing the songs that made it into the album, I had a lot of fun recording my parts of it, collaborating with all the great musicians and hanging with Kevin. Hopefully my joy of doing it comes through and gives whoever listens to it good vibes.
WEBSITE: joshuaespinosa.com
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/jespinosa612/
FACEBOOOK: https://www.facebook.com/josh.espinosa.338
SOUNDCLOUD: soundcloud.com/je612
