Idol Chatter & Voice Views

American Idol fans will remember Josh Gracin as the Marine turned contestant, the first aspiring male country singer to make the show’s finals.

He finished fourth back in season two, behind only Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken and Kimberley Locke. A little more than a year later, he released a self-titled debut album that yielded three top 10 country singles — “Nothin’ to Lose,” “Brass Bed” and “I Want to Live.”

A fourth top 10 single followed in 2007 — “We Weren’t Crazy,” the title track off his second album for Lyric Street Records.

Now 29, Josh is living near Nashville with his wife and four children. Between his family and touring, he says he doesn’t have much time to watch American Idol, but credits the show for convincing him he could make a career out of music.

Josh also has a new single, “Cover Girl,” which you can hear here. Plus a free three-track EP you can download from his website; he describes it as a thank you to the fans who have stuck by him. And a third album just waiting for release under a new label, Average Joe’s Entertainment.

And, on Wednesday night at 8 p.m., he’ll be performing a free acoustic show at the York Fair’s Faire Vue Cafe.

Last week, I got to talk to Josh about that show, his new single and his new album. Here’s the interview.

Idol Chatter: Tell me about the new single, “Cover Girl.” Who wrote it? Why did you release it as a single?

Josh: I co-wrote it with a guy by the name of Brad Tursi. He was a former guitar player for me. We wrote it out on the road. We decided to make it the first single because I wanted to kind of release to country radio a song that tells them what I’ve been doing for the last year … I felt like ‘Cover Girl’ is a song that can kind of beat down the door and give them a glimpse of what’s coming in terms of the type of music that’s going to be on the record.

Idol Chatter: Now, you’re working on a new album. What are you trying to accomplish with this album compared to the first two you released?

Josh: The big difference is, I wrote it. I had a big hand in the whole entire album. All 16 songs are songs I’ve written or co-written, plus I’ve co-produced the album with Kevin Murphy. The album is 100 percent my interpretation, 100 percent my idea of what I wanted the record to be. Just in that alone, it’s going to sound different than anything else I’ve done because other people have done it for me with the last two records.

Idol Chatter: Do you think that makes a big difference, performing your own music as opposed to songs someone else has written for you?

Josh: I think it makes a huge difference. I think it becomes honest. I think people pick up on that and realize that. It becomes a whole different interaction with the crowd at that point because you’re giving a piece of yourself directly to them instead of singing somebody else’s music.

Idol Chatter: So how does that relate to the single? Is that the case with “Cover Girl?”

Josh: That’s about my wife. It’s a direct link to what goes on in my house. I mean that song came from her, from a situation where she was trying to get ready and get dressed and I was waiting on her and told her to just throw the sundress on that I bought her. And she said the only reason I wanted her to wear it is because you can see right through it when the sunlight hits it. And that’s the first verse of “Cover Girl,” the line she came up with. So it’s directly a window into what goes on in my house.

Idol Chatter: Now, at one point, the title of the new album was going to be “She’s a Different Kind of Crazy.” Is that still the case.

Josh: No. The title of the album is “Redemption.” That’s the actual title of the album.

Idol Chatter: OK, why’d you pick that name for the album?

Josh: Well, I figured that it was important for me, with this album, to kind of separate myself from everybody thinking I was just some kid off a talent show and (the idea that) all I’m doing is singing other people’s music.

Nashville seems to be really pushing … well in one breath they seem to be pushing that they want songwriter artists and in another breath they’re continuing to put on a pedestal ones that don’t do that.

But I figured the only way I could kind of shed any naysayers is to come out with an album that 100 percent involved me as far as writing it and producing it. So that’s how the album title came about because it really is about “Redemption” in all aspects. Redemption from the music I was doing. Redemption as far as how people view me because I came from a talent show. I felt it was a good title to kind of put out there what I felt when I made the album.

Idol Chatter: And when can fans expect that album?

Josh: The sooner we know how the single is going to do, the sooner we’ll know when the album will come out. We want to make sure we time it as well as we can with the single. If the single gets about top 15, top 10, hopefully we’ll release the album. The album is done and ready to go. It’s a marketing issue at this point.

Idol Chatter: Now, I read where Kevin Murphy, your co-producer, is your drummer and has more of a rock background. Does that mean there will be more of an edge to this album?

Josh: There’s a huge edge to it. I was born and raised right outside of Detroit. My major influences growing up were Motown and R&B. I didn’t get involved in country music until I was about 13 years old. There’s a huge edge on it. It’s a different sound. It’s different than anything on country radio. But you can’t put it anywhere else. The only place you can put it is country music because of the content, what the songs talk about.

Idol Chatter: Besides “Cover Girl,” are there other songs on the album you’re especially excited about?

Josh: There are a lot of songs I’m really excited about on this album. A lot of songs I’ve really put everything into. “Enough” is one of them. The old version was on MySpace. I rewrote it since I’ve gotten more in tune with how I’m writing.

There’s an up-tempo song called “Get Back to Us” that’s really neat. It’s kind of a departure for me in how I usually like to do my stuff. It’s more country than the rest of the songs on the album, but it’s quickly become one of my favorites. And there are two more ballads — one called “Let You Go” and one called “Lie to Me” — on the album. There are 16 songs on the album. It’s pretty jam-packed.

Chatter: Now, you’ve been out with Mark Willis on The Crazy White Boys Tour? Now, I know that’s the title of one of Mark’s songs. But that term — crazy white boy — doesn’t seem to fit you based on what I’ve read and remember about you on American Idol.

Josh: It actually does. That’s the one thing about American Idol, they kind of painted a picture … I wouldn’t say the opposite of what I am, but there are a lot of things about me people don’t know about.

There are a select few who join the Marine Corps to begin with. So a lot of people would call that crazy instead of joining the Navy of the Air Force. And the stuff that I did when I was in the Marine Corps as far as the field ops, manuevers and stuff that we did. Even now, on stage, whether there’s 10 or 20,000 people, I’m out in the middle of the crowd with no security having a blast in the middle of the show.

Everything about me is the opposite of safe. That’s how the music on the new album is as well. It’s not safe. It’s not down the middle. It’s not what you would expect. I’m kind of going against the grain on a lot of things I do.

Chatter: And what can people expect from Wednesday’s show at the York Fair?

Josh: They’re also going to hear all the old singles. But they’re also going to hear a lot of new material. I’m doing that to get the music out there and show people what I’ve been doing for the past year.