TOAD featured musician: Josiah Schools
Music review + video interview
Review & interview by Nathan Hurley
He’s a one-woman kind of man who doesn’t do drugs. These facts about Joplin resident Josiah Schools, while being commendable, aren’t super interesting unless you consider his line of work. The man is a musician. More specifically, he is a singer-songwriter with a background as a band dude. (He actually used to play in a Joplin band called Dude. Look it up- it is a true story. We only share facts here guys.)
Josiah was kind enough to sit down with me for a hard-hitting, nail-biting, teeth-gritting whopper of an interview. It was nuts. I tried to throw some curveballs at him but the man is all charisma and fielded even the most unsavory and unfair of questions with ease. Let us turn our attention to Josiah.
This writer and music man is non-stop. He is currently a full-time student at Ozark Christian College where he also works part-time in the music department to guide and grow the OCC chapel worship teams. That alone is quite a plateful for anyone, but Josiah has also taken on the challenge of creating and releasing original music over the past few semesters. Oh also, he’s getting married!
Needless to say, I am impressed with this artist. If you want a reason to cheer for this new voice in the Joplin music scene, just look at what he’s accomplished with his latest single “W.Y.B.M.” (which stands for “Will You Be Mine”). This song played a major part in his successful marriage proposal to his now-fiancee, Hope- a story that any artist or musician should appreciate. If you are an aspiring artist, you know it is a huge accomplishment just getting someone to consider marrying you. The artist’s line of work has a stigma of uncertainty and craziness. Both are accurate in many ways if you ask me, but I freaking love the artist's life. (And everything is uncertain these days so who really knows what’s wise anymore? We can’t all be Elon Musk, right?)
The song is also a big accomplishment because it articulates a universal feeling of that fear felt by anyone who has ever taken the plunge into any serious relationship commitment. Josiah’s story and song provide a great example of how the artist can make a piece of work designed for a specific circumstance that then reaches far beyond its original intent.
Josiah has made a catchy, intimate track exploring these difficult-to-articulate feelings that we’ve all felt at some point. Check the song out here if you (A) want to get in your feels, (B) are considering proposing to your significant other, or (C) just wanna hear a man croon for his lady.
--Nate