A Night with Josh Gracin

Former American Idol contestant, Josh Gracin, recently made a stop in the Pacific Northwest for a night of acoustic music. The show had been scheduled at practically the last minute, but that didn't stop fans from snapping up the tickets. Josh played to a near-capacity crowd at the Skagit Valley Casino Resort's Pacific Showroom in Bow, Washington, a small town about 70 miles north of Seattle.

Possibly best known for his songs Stay with Me (itself better known as Brass Bed) and Nothin' to Lose, Josh was born and raised in Westland, Michigan. His first public appearance was at a talent contest when he was in eighth grade where he sang Garth Brooks'Standing Outside the Fire. In high school, he sang opera with the school choir as well as Motown classics with a youth pop orchestra. He was even part of a competition that brought him to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

After graduating from high school, Josh enlisted in the Marines. He was two years into a four-year term when he first saw American Idol. Josh hadn't sung in a while, but auditioned anyway, making it onto the show. He was still on active duty, but was allowed to participate and ended up placing fourth in the second season of the show. He was, however, recalled to his unit while later participating in the live tour.

Josh came to the attention of country band, Rascal Flatts, when he sang one of their songs on an episode of American Idol. The guys happened to be watching and put Josh in touch with Marty Williams, who had produced their first two albums. Josh was later signed to Lyric Street Records, the same label as Rascal Flatts. He has since parted ways with the label, teaming up with Dean Sams of Lonestar for his latest project.

With only two albums under his belt, Josh doesn't have a lot of music to fill a set-list, but it was still an enjoyable hour and a half performance. He played some songs that he plans to put on his third album, which he'll be in the studio recording soon. He also did a montage of cover songs including Chris De Burgh's Lady in Red and Dierks Bentley's Come A Little Closer. The latter was clearly done for humor sake with an over-the-top impersonation of the other singer. And not knowing the lyrics didn't stop Josh from doing Tom Petty's Last Dance with Mary Jane - in perfect melody with the song he began with "I don't know the words to this song...."

Josh's sense of humor was evident throughout the evening and there was a lot of good-natured teasing of a guitar player introduced only as Luke. Josh joked that when he first met Luke, he thought he was a California surfer - no doubt thanks to his long blond hair and baby-faced good looks. Luke quickly proved himself as a more than capable musician and the two have even written a song for the upcoming album. Seth, the other guitarist on stage, normally sings back-up vocals, but he was suffering with laryngitis.

The Pacific Showroom, inside the Skagit Valley Casino holds 460 people and is hosting such upcoming shows as Sawyer Brown, Phil Vassar, and Blue Oyster Cult. Tickets for all shows are available from Ticketmaster.

Sources:

http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/american-idol-finalist-josh-gracin-recalled-marine-duty-leaves-live-tour-1359.php

http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/gracin_josh/bio.jhtml