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We don’t always see eye to eye here at Holler. It’s actually quite rare that we all completely agree on something. A lot of the time we’re like that politically incompatible pickin' singin' folk group in the Johnny Cash song: the one on the right is on the left and the one in the middle is on the right and the guy in the rear is banging on about Kenny bloody Chesney again.
But with Joshua Quimby it was unanimous! We all loved everything about him immediately. The 22-year-old folk singer and songwriter pressed every one of our country buttons in a rare moment of harmony in the Holler offices.
With his gravelly howl and roughly-picked grizzled country-folk sound, his lyrics perfectly capture what it feels like to try to make sense of a modern world that feels like it’s falling apart around you. Maybe it’s because he believes in the world so much still, but it feels like he’s on a noble quest to right the world somehow. He still believes the world could be better, could do better, and it’s this righteousness and toughened romanticism that keeps pushing him on to try to find his place in it.
His new EP,These Old Jeans, is an introspective, coming-of-age record. He reflects on his early life and how he ended up where he is and where he stopped along the way as he carefully disentangles his life story in ‘Small-Town New England,” he contemplates love on ‘Sweeter Than Sugar’ and the title track and he sits down and smokes a fat one with his demons on ‘Do-Nothin’ Deadbeat’ and ‘Ol’ Self-Control.’
“Writing this new record was cathartic in a different way than any other writing I've done so far,” he told us. “I felt I was going deeper than ever before to put these songs together. Connecting with my roots more, lowering my guard even further to process my emotions - of every variety - through song in ways I haven't before, and just getting very raw. I've always felt that music should be raw, and I'm trying to challenge myself with every song that I write to dig further in and towards truth. A writer needs to be vulnerable, above all else. That's what I set out to do with These Old Jeans.”
This is Joshua Quimby’s first new original music since the release of his self-titled album in 2022 and it finds him just as raw and real and righteous as ever.
We are delighted to be exclusively premiering These Old Jeans here on Holler. Listen in full below.
Joshua Quimby's These Old Jeans EP is released on March 3rd
