Josh King interview

Josh King
===

Neil Warren: [00:00:00] [00:01:00] Hello, Josh King and welcome to the podcast.

Josh King: Hey, Neil. It's a pleasure to be here.

Neil Warren: Thank you Josh, and thanks for joining. So you are talking to us, are you in Charlotte, in North Carolina?

Josh King: Yeah, ~uh, ~that's where I'm from. Uh, born and raised. I was born in Winston-Salem, raised in Charlotte. ~Yeah, ~I've lived here pretty much most of my life now.

Neil Warren: I'm sure it's a wonderful place. So our US listeners will probably be very familiar with you because you were recently earlier in this year, ~uh, ~early in 2025 on American Idol. So, ~uh, ~I'm sure you're very well known across the US now. 

Josh King: I would say [00:02:00] very well known, but, 

Neil Warren: ~Yep.~

Josh King: familiar.

Neil Warren: Yeah, the fans of the show, ~uh, ~they, they'll know who you are. So, and on there you did play some harmonica, so we'll, we'll get onto that. But, uh, yeah, so you're. At least, uh, for fans of American Idol, a celebrity, ~uh, in, uh, ~on that show. So, um, , we'll get onto that later, but before then, we'll start talking about how you ~got played, uh, ~got started playing harmonica.

So I believe you, uh, first got your, um, harmonica age six.

Josh King: Yeah, it was, um, if I remember correctly, it was an old, ~um, ~I don't know if you remember those Boy Scout harmonica.

They were like a cheap dollar harmonica back in the day, 

Neil Warren: Yeah. my dad bought me one as a present and I just couldn't put it down. So I'd play it all over the place, to everybody's discontent.

Josh King: I didn't really do anything with it. ~Gonna say ~until I was around eight years old, I was, is when I really hyperfocused on it and decided to really lock in and learn it.

I used to play like Hohners. Like the old golden melodies and marine bands. And I got a few of [00:03:00] those in 2008 and I initially started playing with those.

Neil Warren: So harmonica was your first instrument? ~'cause I know obviously you play other~

Josh King: it was my first instrument that in a, ~uh, ~jaw harp. But I stopped playing that because I whacked my teeth too many times with it.

Neil Warren: Yeah. Those things are very uncomfortable to play, I find, aren't they? I don't know how anyone stands. That vibrating thing that close to

Teeth.

Josh King: I still have it. 

Neil Warren: Yeah. but.

So you also play, now certainly piano is a main feature. So when did you start playing piano?

Josh King: ~Uh, ~I started playing piano around the age of 13, a little later than a lot of people learned 

it, I guess. ' cause ~I know a lot of pe, like ~a lot of my friends play started playing when they were like this young as five years old. I'm like, dang, okay. I find that when you pick something up as a teenager and you actually stick with it.

Your ability to learn. 'cause people are like, oh, well it's easy to learn when you're super young. I disagree a little bit. 'Cause even people I know who are in their twenties [00:04:00] and thirties learning piano learn a lot faster than ~a lot of kids, ~kids ~would ~because they actually have the desire to learn and stick with it and that love for it.

~Uh, ~a lot of kids are forced to learn how to play piano. Fortunately, I was not one of them and I just learned it 'cause I wanted to learn how to play piano. ~And I, I had all, ~I had self-taught myself up until that point, just kinda how to play chords and stuff. But I didn't really, get anywhere on it until ~there's, ~I found a lady down the road from me named Claret Ritter, and I've been learning from her.

Neil Warren: Yeah. And I, I'll second what you say about, ~um, ~you know, there's this kinda myth isn't there, that if you learn as a child and you become some sort of prodigy as you get older,

but, ~uh, ~you know, for for the shout out for all the adult learners of harmonica and other instruments, I think if you're an adult, you've got the motivation to practice, you know, you really want to do it.

~Like, ~like you said, children are often forced to do it. They don't really want to do it. You know, you've got a bit more intelligence to [00:05:00] apply to what you practice and, and all these kind of benefits

of doing as an adult. So yeah, absolutely. So, um, you're talking like a wise old man, but we should point out, I think you are still 24 years old, Josh.

Yep.

Josh King: 25, As of September 21st,

Neil Warren: 25 years old, ~so, uh, ~so yeah, still quite a young gentleman, which is great. Hold onto that as long as you can, Josh. 

Josh King: people are like, oh, wow, you're still young, you're enjoying your twenties. I'm like yeah. Life is tough. ~You know, like, oh, why? ~I'm like, because, ~uh, ~ever since I turned 18, I've been having to pay taxes. 

Neil Warren: twenties could be tough. That's a time you've gotta ~make, you know, ~make your place in the world. So yeah, it's, it's quite a difficult time. I remember the twenties in from that respect, but still enjoy it while you can.

~So,~ so you also play, I think, ~um, ~well, you also sing, which, which we'll get onto of course.

~And, ~and then you also play, I think, some guitar and chromatic harmonica as well. Yeah.

Josh King: I'm not so great with the chromatic. I can kind of play it decent. ~Uh, ~diatonic is definitely more my forte. 'Cause for me, particularly, ~I, ~I like the sound of diatonic on stuff rather than [00:06:00] chromatic. And ~that's, ~that's just my personal preference. Of course ~when I'm, ~if I'm covering a Stevie Wonder song, I obviously want to use chromatic.

~But, ~just diatonic overall is my personal preference for pretty much everything.

Neil Warren: So, a few episodes ago I had ~a, ~a retrospective ~on the, ~on the legendary James Cotton. So ~you, uh, were another, uh, mentor of, um, ~James Cotton was your mentor. Yes. So ~tell, ~tell me the story about how uh, you know, , you first met up with James Cotton and how he became your mentor.

Josh King: So it's very, um, very foggy to me. ~Um, ~but I can tell you in the words of his wife, Jacqueline, and this is, ~I'm gonna say ~either late 2008 or early 2009 when I first met him. ~And ~I can't remember specifically when, but I was around that age and I was just starting to really get serious about harmonica.

I was learning how to play harmonica and I wanted to see other harmonica players. And I listened to James Cotton online, through YouTube, ~uh, ~in [00:07:00] its ~very, ~early stages I guess it was. And my mother noticed, ~you know, ~that I truly wanted to stick with this. And she's like, well, you really like this harmonica player.

~Um, ~let's see if he's playing anywhere. at the time I was living in, New Jersey for acting and stuff. And it just so happened that James Cotton was playing at the BB King's Blues Club, which is now closed. It closed back in 2016. He's playing there. Like a few weeks from that time. so we got tickets and we went to go see Cotton.

I think this was the very first show that I ever went to at BB King's Blues Club, which started a whole like long lasting relationship with that place up until the day it closed. ~And~

we go there, we [00:08:00] go to the show and we sit down. I watch the show and I was just so mesmerized by watching him perform. And I'm like, I wanna play with him.

Neil Warren: ~How old were you? Uh, sorry. ~How old were you at this point?

Josh King: around eight or nine.

Neil Warren: Wow. ~Yeah.~

Josh King: And so I wanna play with him. And me being the dumb little kid that I was, I decided in my infinite wisdom that I would sneak backstage.

~And, uh, I ma ~I got past the bodyguard. I'm sure the bodyguard was like, oh, there's this kid. Uh, okay. And I stuck backstage and I found myself in the dressing room. I found the dressing room. I wandered around till I found the dressing room, and I walked up to Cotton, and Cotton and Jacqueline were like, who is this kid?

And I'm like, I should have been on that stage with you. I'm like, and I said that. I'm like, man I was an arrogant little guy. They're like, [00:09:00] who is this kid? And, cotton laughed. And he is like, all right, then play me something. And so I played harmonica for him and. Ever since then, ~he took, you know, ~ So on the, 

he took me under his wing right then and there, and he invited me to go up to another show with him and perform with him there.

Neil Warren: Incredible, isn't it? on the podcast I did on James Cotton, Kyle Rowland and, and Kenny Neal were the two guests. And they were talking about how, you know, if you knew him, you were like family ~and, ~ and he described you as his, ~uh, mu ~musical grandson. ~I, ~I understand. So

did.

you have that real feeling with him?

Yeah.

Josh King: I absolutely did. he was such a influential, just part of my life and He always encouraged me to. Improve and just to constantly learn. And I wouldn't have started singing without him. He wanted me to learn how to sing. He wanted me to [00:10:00] learn how to play piano.

He was constantly encouraging me and pushing me to constantly improve my craft and to grow as an artist. And~ I, ~I would not be here today without him. ~I, there would, ~I wouldn't have gotten on Idol without him. 

So he 

was such a just influence and positive inspiration to my life. And I, I just couldn't be more thankful for everything, ~you know, ~ he has done for me.

Neil Warren: so how much time did you spend with him and did you go and see him regularly? Or is it just when you were playing shows or? ~I.~

Josh King: I got to see him fairly often ~like, ~'cause he would perform a lot around New Jersey and New York, ~um, ~when he was on and he's constantly on tour. If you knew him, he always wanted to be on the road. He was that guy that was his home to him is just, performing in the life on the road.

~And so ~I got to see him quite often. If I had I can't say how many times because it is it was so far in the past. But it was [00:11:00] something because there I would constantly get up to my shenanigans at his show. And one time I accidentally locked the rv. There was this festival, it was the Dutch Mason Blues Festival and I accidentally, I or somebody else. I was, it was probably me knowing me. ~I lo ~I locked everybody out of the rv. And so the way that we got back in is that they popped the screen off out of the window and then they shoved me through the window and, 

Neil Warren: size. 

Josh King: I was the right size. It was about like an eight inch wide window.

So I was the only one who could fit through it, 

and I had to unlock it from the inside. And if I was getting outta hand or unruly, he'd be like, Hey, get back in line. I'm like, yes, sir,

Neil Warren: So you say you met him first, time, about the age of eight to nine. So did this carry on until, uh, you know, he passed away in 2017. So did you know him all the way till that time?

Josh King: ~I did. I did~ I [00:12:00] hadn't gotten to see him. For, the last year he was alive, because ~I, ~I wasn't aware of just how bad his condition was. And to be honest, none of them were really aware of it because just how fast it happened.

Like when he got sick, it just, it was very like zero to 100.

~It, ~he just instantly ~just ~declined in health 

and there's just no chance for, 'cause you know, Jacqueline, she had so much on her plate at the time with him, and it's just it is just, it was so fast and sudden that ~it just, ~ it didn't fully sink in that he was gone until I was, ~you know, ~at his funeral ~ ~

Neil Warren: ~course he was in, ~he was in Austin and Texas. Yeah. And

Josh King: he was~ ~

Neil Warren: ~uh,~ in North Carolina. So yeah, there was a lot of distance between you two. Yeah.

Josh King: And yeah, and that's the one thing that a lot of people don't realize, who aren't from the United States, is just how vast the United States is. 

And so when you don't particularly live within a, three state [00:13:00] radius, you could say it's very hard to go down and see somebody because, you know, just how much airfare costs or how far the drive is.

'cause I think it's a 16 hour something drive to Austin, Texas from where I live. And so it's very difficult to get down there. I would like to see my actual grandparents a lot more, but they live down in Florida, which is already a 10 hour drive and it's just, I do wish I could have seen him, one last time, but I am already grateful for all the times that I got to of be under his wing and just, ~I am trying to think of a good word for it, but I'm terrible with words. ~

~I need a SARS or something.~ So the time you spent with him, you know, a good few years, I mean, did he give you harmonica lessons? I mean, You talked about he encouraged you

Neil Warren: to sing and play 

Josh King: He wasn't that kind of guy. So the way he taught [00:14:00] me, he was self-taught all the way as well. But when he was touring with Sonny Boy Williamson even then, it wasn't really, nobody really taught him except for the art of performance in showmanship. ~And~ I'm still rusty and 'cause it's been like going on Idol was like the very first time I performed in a very like. On that kind of scale in a long time. 

So I was rusty. ~Um, ~but the way his kind of training, if you want to call it that, was, is that he'd put me on the stage in this position where I'm in front of the band and I need to, work with the band.

I 

need to guide them or, and he would show 

me 

what he does to stop the band, like 

the hand signals and everything. And like he's like, this is how you should ~inter ~he would be telling me backstage, I want you to do this for the crowd and this is how you should interact with the crowd. And he is the one thing he also always ingrained in me.

He is there's two things you need to always remember when you're performing. [00:15:00] One at the end of the show you should always bow. And two, at the end of the show, you should always thank your audience.

And that was more so his kind. Mentorship was performing and putting me in these kind of situations where I can grow and guiding me along.

And if I made a mistake, he would be very sure to let me know.

Neil Warren: And you mentioned his showmanship, so he is a great showman in the time he was doing,

you know, uh, rolling across the stage and all these type of things.

Josh King: ~Yeah,~

I unfortunately never got to see him in his prime. 'cause I don't know if you've seen any~ ~

~like, ~old videos of cotton when he was in his prime performing on stage, but he was an absolute beast on the stage. ~I've heard stories. ~He told me stories about like some, like, there was some venue they went to back in ~like the seventies or whatever.~

~I think it was ~the seventies. And it had ~this. Pipe, ~this water pipe ~running across, like ~running across the stage and it was hanging off the roof. ~And ~in the middle of this performance, he [00:16:00] grabs onto this pipe, wraps his legs around it, and starts doing, ~uh, ~upside down sit-ups while playing harmonica in front of the audience.

So the audience is going wild over it. And, ~uh, I think, I think he was per, ~I think he was still performing with Muddy Waters at this time. ~Uh, ~so I'm not sure what timeline that was. ~Uh, ~and I remember 'cause Muddy Waters was livid with him for stealing the show. 'cause Muddy Waters was that guy.

He's Hey, this is my show, let's not try to take away from the headliner. ~Right? ~And so you can see like, like a couple performances after. Muddy Waters had placed some behind the amps. It's kinda like, ~uh, ~don't do that again, or you're gonna be playing behind the amps. And so there's actual footage out there.

my mom found it, like she was just, she was looking around for like, you know, footage of cotton. She, she found this and she's like, Josh, you see this? I'm like, what? It's like the story that Cotton told you. I'm like, yeah, about him playing behind the amps. He's like this actual video of that. And here, here he is, a young [00:17:00] cotton, he's playing behind the amps.

You can, ~you ~see Muddy Waters singing there and there's cotton way off in the distance in the back of the stage. I'm like, no way. Holy cow. Of course he wasn't, ~he wasn't~ as harsh of a band leader as Muddy Waters was. ~He was a, ~he was very generous to all of us, and he never put anybody behind the amps.

Neil Warren: No, he certainly got you right up here in front. Yeah. And there's some videos of him and, uh, you know, there's, I put in the, ~in the, uh, ~in the Cotton podcast, I did put a clip of you playing within the, ~uh, ~hoochie coochie man. But there's a, there's a few more examples of you playing with him as well on YouTube.

So, um, 

Josh King: He absolutely knew what he was doing when he made me sing that song, [00:18:00] I'm like, I'm lucky at these lyrics. I'm like, wow. I was this 10-year-old kid singing about Voodoo and all this other stuff ~I'm, ~and women and money.

Neil Warren: you did a fine job. And, uh, so like you say, you were 10 years old then, so you'd only been with what, a year or two by that stage? You would get up on stage. That must have been quite some experience ~at, ~at a young age. There~ There~ 

Josh King: Yeah. I was 

always afraid that I was gonna forget the lyrics or do something and he'd be like, eh, no, you've got this. ~He's like, ~he's I was doing this when I was your age. You can do it too.

Neil Warren: And you know, obviously you, you show him being very confident back then you said, ~ you know, obviously ~you snuck into his dressing room and that first time you met him and you're up on stage showing a lot of confidence. But it's interesting as we get into Idol that, ~you know, you, ~you were quite a humble, you know, very humble in what you were, how you presented yourself and everything.

Do ~ Do you ~

Josh King: ~lie.~ I'm not gonna lie, ~I, ~I don't know how I was that confident as a kid.

I was fairly arrogant when I was a kid, but I'm, I don't know. I'm like, I don't know when I lost that. ' cause, like when I was on the [00:19:00] idol, like you go on Idol, right? And you're surrounded by, I'm gonna say when you get to Hollywood Week, pretty much everybody that goes to Hollywood Week is there because they're a really good singer.

Neil Warren: Yep.

Josh King: And that's the thing you learn when you go on Idol, is that. A lot of the times you find oh wow, I'm nothing special. There's all these other better performers and better singers than me. And it's a very humbling experience. And it's and then if you, when you do make it through, you're like, how on earth did I make it through it?

And they did not there was a lot of singers. I'm surprised that 'cause we had Luke, ~uh, ~Luke Bryan and Carrie are with as judges. I'm surprised that none of the country girls and we had a couple girls that did country music and they were really good. 

And I was surprised none of them made it forward.

Even then we only had like two country singers on the top 24 rosters, [00:20:00] so it was a lot less than previous seasons. It was very, it was, it's a very like, shocking experience. , I know they do it 'cause ~there's, you have to real, ~you have to also realize that they choose a lot of contestants 'cause their story or maybe their personality 

maybe. It's like, it's a whole multitude of reasons. A lot of it has to do with ~how they, you know, ~how they're interacting with other contestants. Are they a good person? Do they make good tv? There's so many reasons and I'm not gonna pretend to know them all or~ just ~to know the whole inner workings of the TV show.

But there is a. Plan you could say that the judges and producers all have, and it's just one of those things where you go on the show and you do your best. And if they like you. If they don't. And you just, that was my plan. It's like, you know what? I'm gonna do my best. I'm gonna see where I where it goes.

Um, Chances are I don't make it past Hollywood Week. [00:21:00] And I somehow did.

Neil Warren: Like you say, as well as your obvious talents, uh, Josh. But like you say, a lot of it's a story. You know, you came off across as very humble, you know, almost a little bit shy and ~a kind of a, you know, a, ~a boy next door type thing maybe, didn't you? So that probably appealed ~to, ~to the judges and to the, uh, the audience there as well you know, it's helped you along.

Yeah.

Josh King: Yeah. I have to say, um, , it definitely helped me a lot because, ~I. ~I think a, a lot of it has to do with it is that ~when, ~when I moved back to North Carolina, I didn't have much, ~I'm gonna say ~social experience because you find New York City is a very musical place. There's a very vibrant music community there.

And ~Charlotte ~Charlotte's music community when we moved back was almost abysmal. ~Um,~ it's starting to really grow now, but~ like ~back then, if you're a musician, chances are like, you didn't, ~I like, ~especially being that age, you're very isolated and I think that had a lot to do with it. But ~you ~going on [00:22:00] Idol was the first time I was really around a lot of other talented singers and musicians who understand me, you could say, is the very first time I was around a lot of other musicians my age and just for a long experience and we're going through this semi traumatic experience together. So we're just, we're bonded through this whole experience and that was the first time I've ever really gotten to experience, like some experience, something like that.

Because you gotta remember, the closest thing I've experienced to idol was all the stuff that Cotton put me through

Neil Warren: Yeah. , picking up on that, so as you say, cotton encouraged you to sing and play the piano as well as, as the harmonica, which you, you know, you first did. ~So ~how would that compare to the sort of coaching you got on Idle where, you know, they were obviously helping you about how you present yourself and how you sing ~and, ~and all that kind of stuff.

Was the comparisons there?

Josh King: the coaching. Okay. Cotton mentoring me was like a long [00:23:00] process of, just guiding me on stage. And he'll tell me, this is what you should be doing. Oh, you did this on stage, this, you did it once, but don't do it again. This is why. That kind of stuff. And ~just overall, and ~he'd be telling me stories about his past as a artist and using his life as a lesson to me.

And

the coaching on Idol, is very much, it's very different because you generally got about an hour a day with them, 

so it's not a significant amount of time. So most of the time you're really working on the stuff yourself.

And it's, it's, the coaching especially, doesn't get really personal until top 24, because before that, they're having to work with about 200 different people and they have to get through the, that 200 people very quickly.

Neil Warren: Yeah.

Josh King: what they do is that you [00:24:00] pick your song or you take the song that you're selected to do. Like, We had to do a couple of songs as a group that, were selected for us. Like we had to do one for Hawaii's, Disney song. And then there was a song we did with Lionel and there's all, like, all these plant performances and stuff.

~What was it? What was it? What was it?~

~ I'm just trying to fi ~ so the way it would work, you would pick your song, say, I'm going to rock and Roll Night. Rock and Roll Night was a little difficult 'cause I didn't know what to sing. ~And I'm like, there's so many, there's so many songs here to choose from.~

I'm like, I could choose like an Elvis song. I could choose Huey Lewis. Oh, can't choose Huey Lewis because Huey Lewis isn't in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for some reason. But Salt and Pepper is, I had so many selections to choose from and it was very difficult to kind of, decide on that. And they, they were definitely helping me choose.

And the selections were, for me at that time was, I think it was, hollow Notes, private Eyes. Maybe I was really set on maybe doing a [00:25:00] Billy Joel song. ~I'm like, ~but I'm like, if I do Piano man, I'm doing the most overrated Billy Joel song in history.

Neil Warren: Yeah.

Josh King: Or overplayed. And honestly, I also despise a song, not because it's a bad song, but it's essentially my stairway to heaven.

Neil Warren: Yeah. You

hear It You hear a lot. yeah. 

Josh King: It's so over requested when I'm playing piano at like a, uh, venue and like, oh, I'll do piano man. It's like The 

Pianist Freebird. ~And~ 

Neil Warren: But at least you can play a little harmonic on that one, on the rack. 

Josh King: Oh, yeah. And so I was like, okay, so want to do something a little different than what I've done before. And that ~was one thing. ~ was one thing I was constantly ~trying to con, like ~trying to do on the show, was I wanted to do something a little bit different every single round.

~So, so ~for one performance, I'm doing this song, I'm not at the piano, I'll be standing. And I wanted to try something new each round because I was in this position to really experiment with things, to see how a live audience reacted to it. And normally I didn't get that kind of chance in front of such an audience.

So I'm like, I'm gonna use this chance to try out [00:26:00] as many different things as possible to figure out what works. 

And that's the longest time is almost, it was almost all acapella. We only had three background vocalists, and the longest time requires a whole like. I'm gonna say quartet or five singers in the background.

So I'm like, we didn't really have that. So I'm like, I'll have, uh, the pianist kind of fill in for me as I lean back on the piano. Just be very casual with it. I just wanted to test it to see how it would go and it ended up getting me through. 

It wasn't my favorite performance, it got me through and I got to see how it, how the live audience reacted to it 

Neil Warren: Yeah.~ what a, and ~what about when you, you know, you whipped out the harmonica, ~obviously and, ~, all your songs were rehearsed obviously before you ~did it. ~Did it

live? Yeah. ~Yeah.~ 

Josh King: You didn't get to really rehearse during Hollywood [00:27:00] Week or really plan that much. 'cause ~the turnaround time between, uh,~ the turnaround time between each round was so short.

~Um, you ha ~you had 24 hours at most to prepare for your next performance. 

And then, um, studio, you had a week to prepare two performances and you did ~the rehearsing and you would do ~several rehearsals with the band. Over the course of that week, ~uh, ~you would do stuff with your mentors and you would that just be you, the guy you, the way it would work is that you have ~a kind of ~a vocal coach ~and then you have a guy who's.~

Making notes of all the things you want to do and you work on the arranging of the song. 'cause you have to, gen essentially cut down a five minute song into two minutes or less, and you would arrange the song with them and whatever you know, you wanted to do. Like in enrolling in the Deep, I use chord substitutions in the beginning of the song.

And so we planned out those chord substitutions. And of course I did harmonica on that [00:28:00] wasn't my favorite one because I didn't have the harmonica I wanted for it, 

Neil Warren: What was the issue with the harmonica?

Josh King: it was too low. I 

wanted to use like a higher 

octave 

Neil Warren: Yeah, don't cut through too well. Yeah.

Josh King: Yeah. 

~ ~

Neil Warren: ~yeah. ~

Josh King: ~that I just wanted to add on that.~

That was another great thing is that. When I ~did, ~did need a specific harmonica for that. Seydel was sending me custom tunings or harmonica for each of these performances.

Neil Warren: ~Nice. Yeah. Uh, I mean, ~so you played Harmonic on quite a few songs ~on, ~on the show and, on I'm still Standing, the Elton John song, uh, one of the panels said that the intensity of the crowd went to another level. When you got the harmonic out, do you think the harmonica was part of your success on there?

You ~ ~

Josh King: ~Uh, definite,~ definitely.~ Uh,~ anything [00:29:00] that you can really use to stand out on the show, it really attributes to your success because people wanna see more of it 'cause it's not something that they particularly see a lot of. When you look at past idol seasons, the most people ever really bring out harmonica for is, ~you know, ~one-off performances where they're maybe doing a Bob Dylan or a Billy Joel song, and it's never truly.

A solo 

Neil Warren: A little break. Yeah. A few notes.

Josh King: ~yeah. it's nothing. ~It's nothing truly, like, it's just an added thing to the song. Oh, harmonica. But it's never like, oh, harmonica. I'm still standing. Definitely was the most electrifying performance you could say. That crowd was great. And I'm gonna say that was probably my favorite, ~like ~performance, just physically being at wasn't my favorite song selection, obviously.

But in terms of performing and how the energy was in person, ~I, ~it didn't translate well to TV, I find. But if you were [00:30:00] there in person, ~it was, ~it was really good. it was fun. It was. Honestly satisfying. It was the most satisfied I had come off the stage that entire, ~you know, ~run.

Neil Warren: So another song you did is Hopelessly where you play piano and sang and also played some harmonica on a rack. ~Something else you do is, as you do play Harmonic on a rack with piano. Yeah.~ 

Josh King: Yeah. Uh, I had forgotten my neck rack I normally use, and I was using a new one. But the problem with that new one is that the, ~uh, ~screws kept coming loose. So the harmonica was actively 

getting away from me during the performance. And 

you can kind of see that. 

I had also gotten that harmonica as very last minute.

[00:31:00] I'm, we're talking to Thesal, USA guys, I'm like, Hey, I need this harmonica I leave for Hollywood Week in like a day. Is there any way I can get this? Like made for me, like before I leave he's, oh sure, just give me like three hours and I can get it done and just you can come pick it up.

I'm like, sounds good.

Neil Warren: ~Yeah. ~So where are you using what custom made harmonics, or were there different tunings as well,

Josh King: It was, It was different tunings. 

I don't use super customized harmonica other than just, tunings. ~I have a couple~ I have a couple that are. Customized, but all it is is they, they make the reads more sensitive. Uh, Ben Bowman is the guy who customizes them. 



Josh King: I maybe have like five of them.

'cause ~I normally~ I normally just play vanilla harmonica, 

Just with different notes in them. 

Neil Warren: Yeah,~ ' ~

Josh King: ~the, ~

Neil Warren: ~uh, ~I've had Ben Bowman on the podcast, so yeah, he's a, he's a great guy. So you like his custom harmonicas then?

Josh King: I do, it's been, it's been a while since I've talked to him. I gotta, I gotta reach out to him 

to see how he's doing.

But yeah, Seydel, they, they really did a [00:32:00] lot for me on the show 'cause just how little time, how little time they had to get the harmonicas to me. a lot of times I only had a week to know.

I'm like, okay, I have a week before this song and I.~ I'm like, okay, I have a week before this song and I. ~In studio, you had about a two week advanced notice on what songs you were doing, but it got shorter as you know, the further you got on. 

So I had to pre-plan out like what harmonicas I needed and 

it was a little bit of a nightmare because that would always change as well.

Neil Warren: Because you didn't know which songs you're doing till quite late by, by the sounds of it.

Josh King: There was, yeah, there was a song, I'm trying to, oh, rolling In the Deep, when I did Rolling in the Deep, I wasn't even going to be allowed to do that song initially because another contestant was gonna perform it. 

it really comes onto a first come, first serve basis when you're, claiming songs.

And you can only do that song yourself if the other contestants, gets eliminated.[00:33:00] 

Neil Warren: Right.

Josh King: Then you can like, oh, by the way, they got eliminated. That song's open for you to do. Now~ Now it's oh, hooray. My friend went home. If I get to do a song~ 

Neil Warren: so you made it to the last eight. Yeah. Which is ~a, ~a great achievement. ~And so, ~well done with that. ~I mean, ~what's that done to your career now? You ~ ~

~And is it~

Josh King: [00:34:00] The way Idol is, I'm gonna be totally honest. The way Idol is that you go on the show with pretty much nothing before, and you are instantly raised to a very elevated position. 

Neil Warren: Yeah. 

Josh King: And yes.

Neil Warren: stardom. ~Yeah.~

Josh King: Kinda, I wouldn't say that, but the way it is, is that you're in you're running on high, you're running highs for so long, and like you have all this social media interaction and then you get eliminated and the show ends and then you're, it's like nothing.

It is so abrupt and sudden you could get whiplash. And that's what a lot of people need to realize is that when you do go on this show, generally you don't keep the energy that comes with it. Just be because a lot of these people that are giving you that energy are giving you this energy because the show is live.

So when that show is no longer live, it comes to an abrupt stop. Arguably, it doesn't matter what you do after the [00:35:00] show, in my opinion. Like a lot of people are like, oh, you gotta instantly release music, ~uh, ~to ride that popularity as long as you can. But it, from what I've talked to past contestants from past seasons, it doesn't really matter because a lot of the, following you make off the show isn't, they aren't necessarily the following that sticks with you because you know, they, they follow you because you're currently on the show.

And once that show ends, it's like a lot of them ~find, you know, a lot of 'em ~unfollow because they're like, oh, well it's over now. We don't need to follow this person anymore. 

A lot of them will stick with you. A lot of the audience will stick with you. And that's kind of the goal, right? The goal for a lot of people ~and me ~is that you want to convert that Idol audience to your fans because they're fans of you, because they're idol fans.

So you wanna make them true fans of you and convert them from Idol. 



Josh King: that's the difficult part, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to come off the show and be, you know, out [00:36:00] immediately on the run. Because I'm, I had to take a couple months as a break. I'm like, I just can't do this anymore 

I got,

Neil Warren: experience. ~Yeah.~

Josh King: I got off it had been about, I'm gonna say a few weeks since the show had ended ~and, ~and I went up to Virginia to hang out with a bunch of other people that I met on the show and we were doing the songwriting retreat thing.

And like the day I got there, I started feeling this tingling in my hands. I'm like, well, that's peculiar. I wonder what, I wonder what that could be. And and I wake up next morning and worst pain in my life, I could not move. And I got hospitalized for three, three days. And.

They might know the reason, like we don't particularly know the full reason this happened, but probably a perfect storm of ~a, ~a bunch of reasons. Right. Uh, stress, adrenaline withdrawal. They said, uh, my doctor told me, he's like, yeah, you've been running on adrenaline for, six months straight, nonstop, and now that your body's kind of [00:37:00] pulled back, it just, it came back from being an overdrive and it just crashed.

Neil Warren: ~Uh, ~so I mean, going back before, uh, before Idol ~and, ~and following your time with Cotton, so you spent some time with some other guys as well. You played with Buddy guy on stage as a YouTube of that, and you also played with Tommy Emanuel, ~uh, the, the, ~the famous Australian, ~uh, ~amazing guitar player.

So was this through your connections we caught 'em, that you managed to meet these guys and

Josh King: this was through my connection with BB King's Blues Club. 

Remember how I said before that started this whole long lasting relation, 



Josh King: they would get me, uh, backstage passes and ~they would they, ~they also really took me under their wing and ~they would, ~they were so [00:38:00] nice to me and lovely, and they would get me backstage and they would help me meet these artists and ~like, , what's the word for it?~

~There's a specific word for this. it's not connections, but similar, not connecting, but, ah, I can't think of it. They, but ~they did everything they can. Like, Hey, we want to support you. Like, because they were just so nice to me and they wanted to give me all the chances they could possibly give.

So, they would give me backstage passes and they would introduce me to the artist that was currently in or whatever. So that's how I got to go backstage and meet Tommy Emanuel. That was how I got to go backstage and meet Buddy Guy. And, 

um, there were only a few artists that I couldn't do that with ~'cause they had TIDA security.~

Neil Warren: But you also, um,~ um, ~sang the national anthem at ~a, an f ~an NFL game, ~uh, ~when you were age 13, and also sang at the US Open in 2013 as well. So these, um,~ So these, um, yeah. ~Amazing experiences at these young age you had.

So [00:39:00] how did you get, uh, you know, selected to sing at the US Open?

Josh King: Cattle calls, ~uh, ~like mass auditions and they did one in New York and went in and I got the audition.

~That's what I remember. At least ~that's what I remember.

Neil Warren: Yeah. So, Yeah, again, you push yourself ~at, ~at a young age ~and then, ~and then you went and you started playing, uh, like, um, piano and playing in, ~um, kind of, um, ~foyers and that sort of thing. ~And, ~and you went in that direction with the singing with some harmonica still.

'cause you know, that's kind of what ~you, you know, ~you could get the work, I guess. ~Yeah.~

Josh King: Yeah. ~I, ~I tried to pick up guitar first, but. Just the way my hands are. I was never really able to fully grasp a guitar well. 'Cause ~I, it is, ~I find it easier to spread my fingers over a wider surface than it is to kind of crunch 'em up into a chord on a guitar. ~It's a lot. ~Playing a piano is a lot easier for me than playing guitar.

And that's when I picked a piano, ~it was a lot. ~I learned it quicker than I did guitar. 'cause even to this day, I still can't really get past, bar chords on guitar. [00:40:00] I can strum, I can do chords, but ~it is, ~it's nothing special. ~piano plus ~piano, just the sound of piano is ~just ~so much more pleasing to me and it resonates with me better than guitar does.

Neil Warren: I think like piano's, like the complete instrument, right? You can do everything on a piano. ~Uh, ~ ~ ~

Josh King: ~you, ~

~you can, you, ~you can do everything on a piano except play guitar. Like 

when I'm working with Logic Pro, 'cause I'm learning how to produce my own stuff. The one thing that I can't replicate on a piano through like plugins and sounds is the sound of a guitar is sounds so artificial and obviously fake that I'm like, ah, okay.

this one thing. I'm like, I'm working on this music. I'm like, oh, I gotta hire a guitarist for this one.

Neil Warren: So ~a ~a lot of time on Idol, you sang without the piano, you were just a solo singer. Did it become more like that as the show went on that they 'cause obviously the big focus is on the singing on the show, right? So were

you pushed in that direction? 

Josh King: It's not that I was pushed in that direction. Lionel really [00:41:00] didn't like me getting away from the piano. Lionel, he very much preferred me being behind the piano. 'cause he and I, every single time we would get through and like, they just announced that we made it to say top 14 or top 12.

Lionel would come by and he would like, he's like, Hey, congratulations on making it to the top 14. I told you you can do it and, uh, get back on the piano. I'm like, yes sir. And so me being a little bit like my humor just being the way it is, I'm like, okay, I need to be back on the piano for this next performance.

And I was doing the longest time. I'm like, what if I leaned on it? I'm like, that'd be, that would actually be fairly funny. And I'm like, I'm leaning on the piano. I'm like I am back on the piano. But that's just, people are like, oh, a lot of people are like, well, he's so arrogant for them. Like, no, it's just, just, that's just my dumb humor.

It's stupid stuff like that. That's just that, that tickles my funny [00:42:00] bone. 

Neil Warren: So what place has the harmonica got in your, uh, in your music now? Is it still, up there is one of your main things or,

Josh King: yeah. ~The, I'm working, ~the songs that I'm working on to release, going into next year, most of them have harmonica on them. Of course, there's a couple of different songs. I'm like, Hey, maybe I want a saxophone solo on this for a different, ~you know, ~sound or whatnot. But most of it has harmonica. 'Cause you know, that is my staple instrument.

That is the instrument that I was. ~Uh, what's the word? ~Raised on? 

And that is one of the things that defines me ~is who, who I am. ~Could I be a better harmonica player? Yeah. ~I~ I could be better. I'm not the greatest harmonica player out there, but

it is still to this day, my favorite instrument. Piano comes in second. Singing kind of lies outside of that. I know your voice is considered an instrument, but I'm not gonna lie, I really hate hearing myself sing. because like when I listen to myself sing Li Live, I'm like, oh, that, that sucks.

That, ~that is honestly terrible. And ~

~it's just I'm.~

Neil Warren: You got to the last [00:43:00] state with your singing, so, uh, yeah, I think keep it up Josh, for sure. You know, compliments obvious to the harmonica very well as cotton no doubt, ~uh, ~told you 

Josh King: ~uh, ~yeah, ~I would probably hear it. ~I would probably hear it from him today. Just, I need to be more confident in myself. I'm like, okay.

Neil Warren: ~so, um, ~so we'll move on to, um, some of the harmonica related questions now.~ So ~I have a question each time, which is a 10 minute question. ~Uh, ~if you had 10 minutes of practice, what would you spend those 10 minutes doing? ~So~

Josh King: a lot of breathing exercises,

Breathing exercises, scales, whatever scale you play in the most is probably the skill you need to practice the most. Of course you want to, I need to get better in first position. So I, I've been working on first position scales and stuff, although I don't play in it constantly.

Breathing exercises are definitely the biggest thing for me to constantly work on, especially, ~um, ~after recent events where I, I've lost, uh, I lost a lot of my breath control because of just health issues. So it was, uh, working on getting that back 

all year. ~And,~

Neil Warren: So what would you describe as a, ~ a, ~[00:44:00] a breath exercise on the harmonica?

~ ~

Neil Warren: ~All be edited ~

Josh King: ~So. ~Long inhale, long exhales. And then of course, chugging, like when you're doing like that, if I had, I have a heart I can hear is a Lee Oscar. It's not a Seydel, but my Seydel's are in the case because it just came back from a gig. ~But that on steroids, right? ~So you know how people do that, that kind of stuff.

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Neil Warren: ~Yeah. The.~ 

Josh King: that will wear you out faster than a long, drawn out note. So constantly exercising your lung's ability to constantly exhale and inhale and rapid succession is one of the biggest and most important exercises you can do.

Neil Warren: So do you still, ~you know, ~spend a lot of time practicing the harmonica? You say that you saw your main thing, have you got your other instruments you're singing and

Josh King: I get around to it. ~I'm, ~I don't practice as much as I honestly should. 'cause I have so much other stuff that I'm working on. Like when I am writing, music [00:45:00] is an all day process for me. I will not work on anything else. I will be on one thing for a straight, like 16 hours 

Neil Warren: Yeah. 

Josh King: and then another day. I feel like practicing, and this is, it really comes through in phases.

And I guess it's, that's part of the struggle is that you need to be very disciplined about it. And as someone with a ADHD and constantly keeping that discipline going is very difficult because I'll just hyper fixate on one thing

For an entire day, or even in an entire week, and then another day I can't focus on one thing.

I'll be like, oh, I'm gonna do this. And then I drop something midway through it to work on something else, and then I drop that midway through it to work on something else. And it's just this constant, ~like ~tug of war in my brain of trying to keep that discipline. ~And it, it, it never generally works. ~It's just me losing my mind, just trying to do what I [00:46:00] can where I can 

and when I feel like it.

Neil Warren: So you're working on a new album, as you say, and putting your, your own stuff together. So obviously, you know, you play Blues Harmonic a lot, you definitely perform some blues songs around still, ~uh, ~ But on Idol, you, you obviously went more in a pop direction. So what's your album gonna be?

Is it gonna be, what sort of genres you're gonna cover?

Josh King: if I had to put it into a genre, I don't particularly have a name for it. I can't say I'm, I can't say I'm really pop. I mean, the term you would use to describe it is alt pop. But ' the whole thing about like, there's four genres, pop, country, rock and classical or jazz, and that whole thing to me is a lie.

~I. ~The ~genre ~genres of music is a very wide spectrum. Like when we [00:47:00] say rock, I'm like, well, what kind of rock are we talking about? Heavy metal? Are we talking about classic rock? Are we talking about, you know, old fifties style rock and roll? Are we talking about, punk rock, like British punk rock?

You know, what are we talking about? And it's such a wide spectrum, and that's why I feel that a lot of, people in the industry don't truly appreciate it. They look at the numbers and they're like, well pop. What kind of pop are we talking about? ~Bubble company and so forth, so forth.~

~And~ 

it's a matter of what genre are you in, but what part of that niche in that genre are you in? I'm definitely not in the ~mainstream, ~mainstream pop genre because that is. Not to insult it, but I find a lot of the mainstream pop to be overly edited and overly produced. And

Neil Warren: Yeah.

Josh King: a lot of it tends to, it starts out with a soul when it first gets written, but then it loses it as it goes on and it becomes this [00:48:00] more, artificial thing as it constantly goes through the editing and editing.

Like when I listen to, that's why I really like classic rock and I call it classic pop. A lot of people call it yacht rock. ~I think yacht rock, it's not a great term ~

~for it.~ 

But to like, well, what made this stuff so popular? I mean, I think it was the raw, like you listen to tapes versus DVD, you're going to naturally gravitate towards the sound of tape, like recording, ~uh, ~digital versus tape.

I mean, ~there's, there's a, there's an artist, ~there's a group of artists that formed this group called Pec. I don't know if they do anything. I think they've all gone their separate ways. But like you had Corey Wong, who was a part of it, Joe Darton, all these guys, and they recorded a lot of it on tape and original they had ~like a, for example, like ~a Fender Rhodes, ~like, ~like that kind of old stuff.

Right. Well, not old for a lot of people are like, well, if that's old then I'm ancient. And I'm like, well, no. But the tapes have this sound to them and I can't, I don't know how to describe it. It's like film [00:49:00] photography. I feel something, I feel more emotionally invested and connected in a film photo rather than a digital photo.

And that's why I shoot film photography rather than digital ~and.~ I found once I bought a film camera, I bought an Nikon FI found that once I started taking photos with that, I look at photos more rather than I would when I take them with my phone. Like I'll take a million photos with my phone and never look at 'em again.

But when I take them with that film camera, I look at them all the time. 

And that's why it was important to me when I brought that film camera with me on Idol is I took hundreds of photos. It cost me a fortune, but it just, it made those memories more of vivid in my mind. People are like

why aren't she in any of those photos? I'm like to me personally, I'm like well, you're, there's no photos of your memories. I'm like, well, these are my memories. These photos are taken from my perspective. So these quite are my memories. So when I see these, it's, it's a tangible form. I have these photos.

They're physically there. There's no digital, nothing, no pixels, no [00:50:00] nothing. ~This, ~these photos are tangible evidence that I was there. And that's how I look at it.

Neil Warren: ~Yeah. yeah, and, ~

~So~

~I just, yeah, just, uh, running outta time. I'll just run, ~

Josh King: ~I was gonna say, um,~ That's, ~it's ~the same thing with music. When it's on tape, it's tangible there. 

You feel that music because it is physically there rather than digitally there.

Neil Warren: ~Yeah. No. ~We'll move on now to the last section just to talk about the gear that you use. So, um, we've already talked about, obviously you're using Seydel Harmonics and you're an endorsing of those, and obviously those guys support you well through

Josh King: They,~ They,~ they're definitely the best harmonicas that I've ever played.

Neil Warren: And you talked about obviously using, different tunings, uh, harmonics as well. So was that to suit particular songs that the tunes that you use or 

Josh King: when I, um, did hopelessly, I could have used a basic diatonic, but eh, it went ahead, sounded great. I forgot the specific name of the tuning. 

I wanted that brighter and peppier sound, so I'm like, okay, let's get the, this, I want this note. I think it was, I think we changed it to an A or whatever it was. , 

Neil Warren: like a Paddy Richter tuning.

Josh King: Yeah, that's, ~I think, ~I think it was a Patty Richter tuning. [00:51:00] I think that's what it was. 

Neil Warren: Sense. Particularly with pop songs, right? When you want to get those notes without, ~I mean, to get ~difficult bends and stuff, so yeah.

Josh King: yeah, because then it sounds too, ~I don't have a word for it, but it, ~, from the audience's perspective especially, they don't know too much about harmonica music, that little shift in the sound, 

freshens it up to them. 'cause you don't wanna do too harmonica solos in a show, in a row on a show that sound similar because of the tuning.

and that's why I tried to use it sparingly on the show as well, is 'cause I still wanted to keep it a novelty to them. 

Neil Warren: of, ~yeah. ~

Josh King: Because, it's not something that commonly comes out, but it. I was hoping that, maybe they'll vote for me more if I don't do a harmonica solo this song, but I'm like, Hey, maybe they'll vote for me more.

Say, Hey, we want to hear it next time. And so that's what spread it out. Like every other performance

Neil Warren: Yeah. Good psychology there. Yeah. ~Uh, ~and what about over blows? Do you use any over blows in your harmonica playing?

Josh King: I do, uh, I don't think I used any other [00:52:00] than one on, I'm still standing, 

but, I didn't do any songs that were in, like if I had done, , one of the songs I ~po prob~ possibly would've done was House of the Rising Sun. 

And had I done that song, I would've absolutely gone ham on the harmonica, but I didn't get that chance.

So I, I never really 

got to really show off my full capabilities with harmonica.

Neil Warren: Yeah. Yeah. Understandable in that setting. Yeah. Uh, and what about the embouchre you use? Are you tongue blocking, puckering, anything else?

Josh King: ~I, yeah, ~I tongue block more than puckering.

Neil Warren: And is that something that Cotton taught you or.

Josh King: He would gimme hints. He's oh, you hear how I'm doing this? I'm like, yeah, I want you to copy that. I'm like, okay. How? He'd be like, figure it out. 

And so ~he is, he that's 'cause ~that's how he learned, right?

He would hear it and then he would have to try to replicate it himself. And so that's how he wanted me to learn. He wanted me to hear it. He wanted me to be able to hear something and then be able to replicate it. [00:53:00] And I owe him a lot for ~how. You know ~how well I do with ear training and how well I do with ~like, ~picking stuff up and improvising.

So when I went into learning piano, I already had that foundation and fundamental basis for being able to improvise on piano because of harmonica

Neil Warren: ~Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. ~So what about ~the, um, ~the amps and microphones that you use? Obviously in Idol you were using a kind of acoustic, vocal mic. ~Yeah. ~But, ~um, ~is ~that, was ~that what you generally like to use when you're playing harmonica?

Josh King: generally. Um, ~there's a fi, ~there's the, um, I forgot which brand makes it, but it's called the Fireball. Um, Thank you. The Audix. Fireball. I use that for harmonica generally if I'm just playing harmonica. ~Other than I, ~other than that, I just use basic microphones because ~I, ~I prefer cleaner sounds.

~ ~

Josh King: ~I, ~I don't own a bullet, mic.

I've been meaning to buy one. But I just haven't had the chance or the funds to get one. And I just ~haven't, I ~haven't needed one. ~I plan on doing, Yeah. I, ~I plan on doing session work and stuff, so I'm like, I [00:54:00] know I'm gonna have to buy one if I do session work over in Nashville.

'Cause a lot of people want that bullet mic and that sound. but up until now I just haven't needed one.

Neil Warren: ~Yeah, sure. ~So you haven't got a tube amp, ~uh, ~that you play

blues through at the moment. Now you're playing through a PA and what about any effects?

Josh King: Nothing. I mean, I just picked up a looper if that counts.

Neil Warren: ~Yeah, absolutely. Yeah so great stuff. Then Josh, sorry, I'll just wrap it up there just for time. I'll touch you moment after. ~ Yeah. So great stuff ~there, ~ Josh. ~Um, ~looking forward to your new album coming out, which is gonna include plenty of harmonica by the sounds of things. And hopefully you can build on your success from, ~uh, ~American Idol and, uh, and carry on and well done for, um, you know, getting the harmonica out there to a mass audience in the US as well and people really, you know, seeing the harmonica and what it can do.

So you did a great job with the harmonica there as well. So, ~uh, ~thanks very much for speaking to me today. ~Yeah, ~Josh King,

Josh King: Thank you. Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure.