Josiah Queen has announced his third album, Damascus Road, on Instagram, with the record set to arrive on October 23rd, and pre-orders opening on August 14th. He is not making fans wait long for new music either, with ‘sundays’ arriving this Friday.

The title continues Biblical thread through Queen’s music. Following his 2024 debut The Prodigal and 2025’s Mt. Zion, Damascus Road references the road where Saul encounters Jesus in an experience that completely redirects his life. It feels like appropriate territory for an artist whose career has changed dramatically in just over two years.

Both of Queen’s previous albums debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart, while ‘Dusty Bibles’ took him onto the all genre Hot 100 for the first time. Even if you’re not religiously inclined and don't tend to listen to Christian music, much of Queen’s music sits comfortably beside any main-stream modern country releases.

And there is clearly a place for it. Country and Christian music are moving increasingly close together, although they’ve never been worlds apart. It’s hard to separate country music from it’s Christian foundations, with it still being arguably the most prominent genre that’s able to talk about faith in a mainstream-welcomed way.

Brandon Lake’s ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’ with Jelly Roll became a mainstream crossover, for instance, while Lake has since collaborated with Lainey Wilson, Bailey Zimmerman and Cody Johnson, and is currently working on a new country-Christian album.

At CMA Fest in June, his Cowboy Church with Wilson, Dan + Shay and CeCe Winans drew such a crowd that fans spilled into two additional viewing areas. Even younger country stars such as Tucker Wetmore openly place faith alongside family and fans when talking about what drives them, with the likes of Wetmore, Ella Langley and Bailey Zimmerman routinely talking about faith at their live shows.

Perhaps that points towards Queen’s real strength & place. The message is unmistakably Christian, but the music feels completely contemporary and widely accessible.

You could stumble across one of his songs on a country or folk playlist without ever thinking about what box it belongs in. Maybe that's exactly why it is reaching so many people.