Joshua Espinosa has a new album titled AMERICAÑA. It sounds great and the songs are thoughtful. They make you smile, they make you think. You can smile, think and maybe even dance at little at the album release on Oct 18 at Bryant Lake Bowl Theater.
Please tell us about you and how you first got interested in music.
Growing up, my dad played guitar, and I guess one day at around 15, I made the mistake of looking like I needed something to do, so he told me to grab $80 because Sam Ash was having a guitar sale. So we got one, and he left me in my room with a chord chart and a brief explanation on what to do. Late that night, he comes in and tells me to bring the guitar, and he starts playing Eagles and Neil Young songs and is treating me like I know what I’m doing. Of course, I’m failing miserably, but it was still fun to hang out with my dad like that. I never put the guitar down after that.
I love that your debut album, AMERICAÑA, starts with Saturday Night because the album has such a Saturday night feel, from a danceable Smoothe to the out to late sound of Dark Forest Trees. What was your inspiration or goal for the album?
What a cool way to describe it — I hadn’t thought of it like that, but now I might steal it from you! It’s funny how Saturday nights often start with so much hype and end maybe a little too wistful for my own good…but anyhow, I really just wanted to put out an album that reflects who I am, all of the styles that have influenced me, all the stuff I’ve learned about music over the years and all my strengths and deficiencies as a person. All you need to know about me is pretty much in these 11 songs — for better or worse.
Singing Me or the Whiskey as a duet with Sarah Morris was such a great idea. Your voice sounds great with Sarah’s , also I think using two voices brings the song to a different place lyrically as well. Is someone asking you to choose between them and the whiskey? Or are you asking yourself to choose between the whiskey and you?
All credit goes to producer Kevin Bowe for bringing in Sarah. She is such a nice person and has such a beautiful voice. I think the connotation toward an ultimatum deepens the basic premise behind ‘Me or the Whiskey,’ which is largely about me looking in the mirror and wondering if some of my self-destructive behavior is due to outside influences — whiskey — or internal issues that drive me toward those influences. I often wish I was less introspective, but otherwise this song doesn’t get written, so…
Please talk about We Don’t Follow You. It’s a powerful song with a pointed message.
Well first, I basically learned how to play slide guitar for this song because in pre-production, where we were going through ideas on how to record this, Kevin said something like he had a slide guitar player he could bring in, and that concept drove me nuts because I hadn’t really considered that anyone else besides me would do any of the more feature-y type of guitar on the album, so I spent like 3 months working out all the technique. Super painful, but well worth it ‘cause now I can’t put down the slide.
Anyway, ‘We Don’t Follow You’ is a song about what it’s like to be collateral damage to up-the-chain leadership decisions. Wars created by presidents end up with twenty year olds dying. Slashing government programs leads to harder times on the streets. They push one button and you get screwed. And we just have to deal with it always. No matter who’s in charge, someone’s life is about to get worse. Someone hand me a slide, please — I’m all worked up now.
Please tell us about the upcoming release show.
Yeah! I’m so grateful The Bryant Lake Bowl Theater in Minneapolis is hosting me and my crew. Tom Lieberman, who used to play guitar on “A Prairie Home Companion” and plays around town with Tim Sparks is playing a solo set. I just love watching that man play guitar on his old Gibson.
I’m playing with a great backing band, The Gut Buckets, a 6-piece band that’s got keys, sax— the works — and they just bounce, man.
My pal Blake Hartman, an up and coming songwriter who I’ve done some co-writing with, is opening up the whole show, also with The Gut Buckets. On his set, I’m going to play the washboard and sing harmonies. Should be a hoot!
Mostly Minnesota 