Take Me Home, Country Roads

One of the best parts of being a recording artist is that I can pay tribute to amazing musicians who have made an impression on me by covering their songs. Nothing beats creating and breathing life into a new idea that expresses a deep part of yourself, but that doesn’t diminish the joy of playing other people’s music, which can often evolve into a deep and personal expression of yourself as well. My goal when looking for a song to cover is to find lyrics that I connect with, and music that I can change so I can make it my own. One such song that fit the bill for me, as it has with so many others, is “Take Me Home, Country Roads”. 

Recharging in the Redwoods during
one of my West Coast road trips. 

Throughout the last decade I have been nomadic almost as much as I’ve been settled. In one year alone I drove the length of West Coast five times. In fact I usually get a sense of relief, a feeling of home even, when I hit the open road. So naturally a song about, driving, the American landscape and the pursuit of home, spoke to me. So one night, in a recording studio in Mesa Arizona, a friend and I decided to “lay it down on tape”, just for fun. 

It’s funny how things work out, because after driving up and down the coast and around the country so many times I had enough footage to put together a decent road-tripping video. And that video was seen by tens of thousands of people, some of whom were in England looking for a cover version of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” to feature in a TV commercial. Now, I had no intention on creating a video when I recorded it, or even sharing it really, and I had no intention of selling it when I created the video, but I ended up licensing my recording to the Diabetes Concerts Foundation for use in their 2013 online and TV ad campaign in England, three years after that night of putzing around in Arizona! I think the lesson here is that you can’t know what is going to succeed in art and entertainment, so just do what you are interested in. Those are the projects that have the most appeal, because you like them the best. Or, maybe it’s best to copy formulas, seems to work for the record labels and they are a lot more successful than I am. In any case, I hope you enjoy my version of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” featuring Chris Baker on the guitar and backing vocals. 

Check out my recording of Take Me Home, Country Road in the widget below, on Reverbnation, or download it off iTunes!

Thanks for listening,
Josh

Sell Music online at ReverbNation.com

Morning Light

Morning Light is the second track off my brand new release, Josh Niehaus Begins. Musically this song began as a very simple guitar riff (the one you hear at the beginning of the song and in the verses), but it quickly grew into a 40+ track recording session. It ended up being one of my more textural and orchestrated songs, overflowing with both organic and electronic sounds. 

Anyone who has created something that they have poured their heart and soul into, whether it’s writing, an invention, a relationship, a child, etc., knows that what may have started out as a simple idea or act can grow out of one’s control. A character can outgrow the book it was born in, an idea can become a multinational corporation, a child will grow to find itself. Even a simple song like my own can wrestle its way to freedom, and leave me hearing things I never heard when I was creating it. I’m not prepared to follow this idea into a value judgement or metaphysical treatise, but I’m glad that this song, Morning Light, wrestled and and evolved to the very end, because that’s what it is about. 

Morning Light tells the story so many of us are familiar with; how quickly a minor incident, careless words and a prior memory that has yet to leave your mind in peace can turn to shouting and leave you wondering how something so simple could’ve become that. Of course now I am talking about struggling with a relationship, but a relationship is an act of creation as well. And for those of us who can learn to fight with it, not against it, even if it takes all night, a reward awaits. After all, what could be greater than struggling as an individual, pouring yourself out and into new entity you are co-creating; something part you and part something more. It takes a lot of work, but it's worth it.  

Thanks for taking the time to read this. It may have been a bit heavy and I’m not sure how much of what I have just said comes through in the song, after all it is a pop/rock love song. So I’m glad I got to share these thoughts and feelings, and I hope you enjoy Morning Light.

Josh Niehaus Begins, available on iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, Spotify. 

The Last Song

As I work towards my first full length album, I plan on releasing shorter EPs and singles as songs are completed. These releases will eventually become my debut LP; no name yet, but I'm open to suggestions. Traditionally musicians wait until everything is complete to send their album out into the world, but I figure in this digital age of music there is no reason I can't let my fans, friends and family hear what I'm working on as I go. Also, the popularity of specific songs on these shorter releases may help me figure out what to include on the final CD (and hopefully vinyl).

I can't think of a better song to start this whole project off than with The Last Song. Besides the delicious irony of beginning with The Last Song, it is also fitting because it has been with me for about a decade now. Written in the aftermath of the collapse of my first great love, the song is one part sweet and contemplative ballad, and one part angry break-up song. It's got a little something for everyone. It's been with me for a long time, and I feel it's one of the songs that best expresses my "Joshness" (my quiddity, for you hyper-literates), both as an expression of my feelings in the lyrics as well as an expression of the sounds that resonate within me musically. I hope you like it!

Special thanks to singer/songwriter Jacob Brown, who helped me perform this song all those years back while it was still in embryo. Playing with you no doubt helped form the finished product.

Listen to The Last Song on Reverbnation

Free EPK from ReverbNation.com

Download The Last Song on iTunes

Song featured in TV commercial and new EP release!

It’s been a good week for ol’ Josh Niehaus! I received (totally out of the blue) an email from a non-profit company in England that raises money for children with diabetes called Diabetes Concerts Foundation. I had never heard of them before, and they had only just discovered me through an exhaustive online search of the song “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, which I recorded a version of. It turns out that they have an upcoming advertising campaign called “Take Me Home”, and they couldn’t find the right music for it anywhere. They had almost scrapped the whole idea before they found my version of John Denver’s classic on youtube. It’s hard to believe that a video I uploaded years ago of a song I recorded for a school project is “the most suited music” for an ad campaign of a company 4,700 miles away! But, Google bless them, they have licensed my recording for a TV commercial that is set to appear before “4.5 million viewers a week” in England sometime in 2013! 

I’m hoping this might be the kickstart that every independent artist needs to help move off of the digital shelves and into playlists around the world. I also decided that I would use this occasion to “relaunch” myself, much in the same way Mitt Romney did after already running two years for president. It didn’t work out for him (and it probably shouldn’t be allowed), but I figured that I have come a long way since I recorded and mixed my previous projects. I am proud of how far my recordings have come and this feels like a better place to start from. With that in mind I have taken down my previous projects and I will begin releasing a series of new (and old) music, starting today with my newest EP, Josh Niehaus Begins. 

Josh Niehaus Begins Album Cover. Photo by Carly Israel. 

I really want to thank everyone who has followed, liked, listened and supported me over the years. I may have a modest following, but it’s enough to encourage me to continue and remain optimistic that great things are still in store. 

Please check out my new EP, Josh Niehaus Begins. It’s available on iTunes @

U.S.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/begins-single/id596531124

Canada

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/begins-single/id596531124

U.K.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/begins-single/id596531124

Stay tuned for an updated music video of Take Me Home, Country Roads, and a TV ad featuring my recording in it soon! 

More info on Diabetes Concerts Foundation check @ http://www.diabetesconcerts.org/

Josh Niehaus Begins includes “The Last Song”, “Morning Light”, and “Take Me Home, Country Roads”. 

Special thanks to Dowell Davis, who played drums on “The Last Song” and “Morning Light”. And to Chris Baker, who played guitar and sang backup vocals on “Take Me Home, Country Roads”.