Although Josh Gilbert is a new up and coming solo artist, he is by no means new to the writing/recording/performing/touring life. He spent a number of years as the frontman of critically acclaimed indie rock band Jettison Never, performing 6 to 9 months out of the year during its heyday. 

A season of loss nearly derailed what seemed to be a sure and solid calling from the Lord, but in the years to follow, the call grew louder and resounded again in his heart. Now, reenergized and refocused, Gilbert returns with a self-titled EP and a new outlook, which he shared with NRT recently.

I’m glad we have the ability to talk today and talk about your music and have people get to know you and what you’re all about. Tell us, for people who don’t know you, you as a person and as an artist, what you’re all about.

Basically I grew up being a musician in the church and sang in church when I was a kid, sang in choirs all through school, did a lot of classical music as well as modern worship music and even some gospel. At a young age my parents got divorced and went to completely different types of churches, so I had quite a diverse religious background, everything except Catholic.

I got exposed to just a huge variety of music, and I’ve just been honored to serve in the Church since I was a boy. I got saved when I was a boy.

In adolescence I broke off and started a touring Christian band by the name of Jettison Never and it was me and my brother and my cousin. That was in 2006, and we started touring across the U.S. as much as we could, and we bought a van and just did the whole touring thing.

We played about 150 dates out of the year on our own booking and our own dime. I think from about 2009 to about 2010 we lived out of the van. We didn’t even have a permanent residence. We were really hardcore about it. We were all in and music was just our life and our passion. I think in 2009 and 2010 we did 250 shows that year.

Wow, what was that season of life like?

It was a great experience and there wasn’t a lot that came from it other than experience, but we enjoyed that process of making music. We made a lot of relationships across the U.S. We played in bars. We played in all different venues. We played in churches. Pretty much anywhere and everywhere and it was like Switchfoot-type music, where it could relate to non-Christians as well as Christians in their walk.

Then in 2011 we came back home and we had a tornado come through Chattanooga, a huge tornado storm, and then a giant pine tree smashed our tour van in half. We were so broke at that point and we were very broken and burned out. It was a point in our musical endeavor that we just had to give up everything. I had to give it all up.

Then my cousin left for the service industry, and now he’s a professional chef and doesn’t play drums. This was devastating. There were a lot of things that fell apart. Then things kind of regrouped and I felt God pouring songs into me. Years would go by where I’d have 50 songs and they’d just keep coming, keep coming and I’m like, “God, what do you want me to do with these songs?”

I felt called to just continue the ministry in music and pursued it more from a Christian base and more for a solo artist and did a lot of touring from that point on on my own. I also had a job as a guitar teacher and a stock guy at a music shop. In 2012 I lost that job. They fired me from that job or laid me off from that job and I had nothing to turn back from.

I decided to just continue with music only and since then God has provided and opened many doors and changed a lot about me and changed a lot about what I thought music was and what I thought I was. I'm basically learning more and more each year to be a tool in His hands rather than taking it in my hands.

In addition to doing your solo music, you’re a worship minister at Hickston First Baptist in Chattanooga. Is that right?

Yes, that is correct. In about 2006 I also began music ministry—well, that is, when I was in town. I began music ministry with a church called Mosaic as well back in 2006 and we are affiliated with Erwin McManus’s Mosaic in Los Angeles. I wouldn’t say I’m a career worship leader type of thing. It’s never been about how much can I do or how many stages I can take. It’s been more about seeing where is there a need and whether God wants me there.

What does a Josh Gilbert show look like?

I’m not sure. It’s kind of morphed over the years, but right now in the past two years it’s been acoustic solo, or with a band. It doesn’t matter to me. Kind of been flexible. What it looks like nowadays is it’s majority of originals and I’ll do some worship covers that people would know. I think that over the years, when you start out in music you strive so hard to be the best that you can be live to engage people and then your goal is that at the end of the night they won’t forget you. That’s your goal, but fortunately for me God’s really busted that apart.

I spent so many years trying to be the best I could be to the point of where I almost hated every note I sang, everything I did. Nothing was ever good enough and God’s really taken that and broken that down and said, “No, it’s not about that. It’s about how can people leave with the connection to Me, to God. How can people leave this night with a connection to God and what are you going to do? How are you going to lay yourself down so that you can connect people to God?” That is the only thing that matters. That’s been a huge pride battle in my life, so I would say that is the number one goal.
 

Tell me about your latest release and working with producer Jason Hoard and all that, how that came together.

That’s just a continuation of the same message and the same attitude. Last year I spent and maybe a little bit of the previous year, but I guess last year I wrote upwards of 30 to 40 songs and I had some material leftover from years past. It came to a point where I wrote so many songs and none of them would work. None of them were going to work out and I just got to the point where I was like, “I don’t have anything. I don’t even have the ability to do this, so God if you want me to continue in this, I need to have your hand take control of it and just send me something that I guess would work for the message that you want, because I can spend my whole life doing that and trying hard and working hard at it, but it can amount to nothing almost.”

The two recent songs that we got to do with Jason Hoard, that’s where those came from was being at that place and separate us in particular. I was at a place of struggling with things in my own personal life and struggling with attitude and struggling with sin. Everybody struggles with sin. Some can be more ongoing than others, but I was at a place where I didn’t even feel like I deserved to write a song or I deserved to sing anything any longer. Then God gave me that song and He’s like, “You’re right. You don’t, but there’s nothing that you can do that will separate yourself from me.”

It’s a great song, too. You have a great sound. Speaking of that sound, who is your biggest musical inspiration?

I have many favorites, but I think right now it’s a little bit of NEEDTOBREATHE. I love NEEDTOBREATHE. What comes to mind is I love the songs of Passion worship. I think in our mind with that one we wanted something that people could repeat and people could almost call in response, like more anthemic. I’ve always liked Passion. That’s probably one of my favorite worship collectives, if you want to call it that, over the years. I, of course, love bands like Switchfoot and things that aren’t quite so cookie cutter. My favorite group and my favorite vocalist of all time would be U2 and Bono, but I’m sure many people say that.
 

What’s next for you? What does 2015 look like?

Definitely more touring and seeing where God takes it with some radio play. I know that my label wants to go and record at least two more songs and we’ll see how the radio doors open up or whatever else it takes to do more.

Do you have any big dreams as far as maybe something God’s shown you, as far as where this goes? What would be a huge dream for you with your music?

I honestly think I’ve fulfilled my dream. It’s not really mine to fulfill in my power, but I’m at a place in my life where I’ve always wanted to do music. It’s been such a great passion of mine and I’ve let it go out of my hands and now I’m at a place where I am doing music for the Lord full time. That’s all I could ever wish for and dream of and I’m at peace with that. If nothing more comes of it, then I’m just so grateful and so honored to be where I’m at in life right now and honored to serve and serve people and serve His church.

How can people be praying for you?

I’ve got a family. I’ve got a wife and two baby girls. I guess pray that God provides our needs and continues to open the musical doors and musical road ahead, and prepares me for that. I also still to this day play with my brother and I’ve got a sister and her husband, who is a part of my band too, and a couple of others and they’re like a band I take to back me up on the road and do worship and stuff too. I hope that that continues that they can have provision as well through all of this.