Life & Work with Joshua Sinclair of Des Moines

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Sinclair.

Hi Joshua, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I was ten years old when I started playing the guitar. Took lessons for 6 years and started up a couple of bands in high school. Moved to Philadelphia after a year of college and started playing and networking throughout the east coast.

Moved back to the Midwest a couple of years later and started up a band with my younger brother on drums. We started releasing our own albums independently and touring regionally and then started branching out with some national tours.

Did that for a few years until we landed a record deal in NYC in 2004. Over the course of 6 years, we signed with multiple labels and recorded and released 4 albums. Split from our last label in 2010 after playing the Jerry Lewis Telethon in Vegas and kind of went our separate ways for a few years.

I started playing a lot of solo shows and releasing some solo albums. Broke my knee in an unfortunate accident in 2015 and was unable to walk for a few months. It was during that time I learned a new skill that would become the backbone of my shows from that point forward… live looping.

I began to incorporate that into my shows and my performances took on a whole new direction, very dynamic, full, fun, and all from being able to live loop parts on the fly. All-in-all, I’ve released 16 albums during my music career, with a brand new one called “Ten Songs For Summer” that just dropped this past spring 2022. I continue to tour, write, record, and release new music, videos, etc. and play over 150 shows each year throughout the Midwest and around the country.

My brother and I still come together to play about 15 shows every year and my passion and drive have not wavered. I’m still just as hungry and excited as the first time I ever picked up a guitar. I love everything about being able to perform and share songs and I’m incredibly humbled to be able to do it for a living.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not a smooth road, but it’s made for some great songs and moments. Plus, the tough times are what make the good times all worth it. There have been setbacks; from being dropped from record labels, going through a divorce, breaking my knee, losing my dog of 14 years, shows where no one cared, etc.

But again, all of the things that created struggles have made me stronger and more driven. I tend to use those heartbreaks or struggles as my muse at times and they find their way into my songs. A lot of times I use my music to help me cope with those tough times and it’s almost therapeutic in a way to be able to write a song about that.

I also love to put humor into a lot of the songs I write as it captures the listener’s attention in a way that makes it easier to lay original songs on people who have never heard me before.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a singer/songwriter in the country genre vein, specializing in live looping and incorporating song subjects that don’t get written about very often.

I’m proud of the albums I’ve written, recorded, and released. I’ve had the chance to share the stage with a ton of my idols throughout my career and I’m thankful for the opportunity to continue to do it. I keep putting myself out there and always have been driven and passionate about music.

I have my own vibe, my own style… even the covers I do, I love to put my own spin on them. You’ll never hear me do a cover song note-for-note as the original artist did it. I love making it my own, but I LOVE being able to drop original music on people’s ears.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Being enthusiastic, an eternal optimist, and passionate about music. Not letting the tough stuff get me down. Always being accessible to fans and others.

Sharing my passion with others and also support others, artists and musicians, by attending their shows and concerts when I’m not on the road.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.joshuasinclair.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/joshsinclair
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/joshuasinclairmusic
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/joshuasinclairmusic

Image Credits
Jeff Hackbarth, Dave Wood, and Zach Van Dorn