Josh Harty

Singer-songwriter Josh Harty has everything to make it. A warm-sounding voice that refers to that of James Taylor or Gordon Lightfoot, a guitar technique many artists can only dream of, and narrative texts taken from life. . . The sincerity of the songs shines and the subtle and beautifully detailed instrumentation ensure that you always stay focused. - Rootstime.be

I reckon this'll be the third album for Wisconsin native Josh Harty. Coming from an intensely musical background, he seems to have been playing and performing most of his 30-odd years and his fluency on the acoustic guitar is testament to all those years of playing. As a songwriter, I would say he's striving to be as honest, as true to an emotion, as he can possibly get, and I guess he has a perfectionist streak that prevents him being more prolific.



There's just six original songs here and the tone is set at the off with Whiskey and Morphine; the strummed guitar, the sonorous bass and the slightly anguished tone of the fiddle provide an appropriate back ground to the bruised yet noble warmth of Josh's voice. It's a wonderful voice, compared in the past to Gordon Lightfoots', and the really attractive thing is that there is plenty of colour in there, as if can convey all the compexities of an emotion in a single phrase. He can sound regretful whilst simultaneously hinting at hope around the corner.



The downbeat tone is maintained across the six songs but is leavened by a sweet lyricism that harks back to - well, Gordon Lightfoot and James Taylor, to name two. It's as if he wishes to convey the seriousness of life and the beauty of life, in equal measure. A muted drum pulse, emotion-laden bass playing and wonderfully sensitive fiddle and mandolin playing from Trevor Krieger are a great match to the rich sound Josh conjures from his guitar and there is a dignity to this music making that leaves us feeling enriched for the experience.



The album closes with a cover of Richard Thompson's 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, performed live and solo. It's a good chance to show off his guitar technique as his fingers pick an urgent pulse and his boot taps insistently on the stage. The warmth of his singing, however, misses out on the emotional madness that Richard Thompson's own version invokes and, for me, that's a crucial element of the song lost. Still, it's good to hear the song in a fresh context and besides, I think Josh Harty's singing of his own songs will have me coming back to this album. - No Depression

Josh Harty has a voice for troubled times and he works his way into the lives of his lost love characters with perfection. The emotions he brings let the songs play out in real time, the hurt and the bad days that follow are alive, the wounds raw. -

. . .As you will discover on this album (Nowhere), it will never be more Americana than Josh Harty. Songs about "Whiskey and Morphine", longing for his lover in "On My Mind" or looking out for a "Sweet Solution"- the album is a compilation of tunes and stories from the heart. . . -

If you grew up in rural North Dakota, chances are you figured out that there really isn't much to do. In the case of North Dakotan Josh Harty, that was a good thing- as the folk and blues singer found music a constructive way to break up the seemingly endless boredom. Harty picked up more than a few instruments in his formative years and learned to master them with the seemingly endless amount of time he had on his hands. What results today is an uncanny acoustic guitar based talent and attractive baritone voice. On Harty's first album, 2003's "Three Day Notice," he crafted a delicious blend of folk and blues reminiscent of folk pioneer John Gorka. That low baritone voice is what ultimately draws you, but his storytelling skills show promise for a singer-songwriter who is still just at the beginning of his artistic journey. - The Pulse, Minneapolis MN

Presumably, the “you” Josh Harty addresses in his low-down anti-love song “Long Time Coming Down” is a woman. But really it could be anyone with whom the veteran singer-songwriter has tried and failed to cement an honest relationship. That’s part of the power of this artfully ambiguous country-folk tune, a highlight of his new album A Long List of Lies. Even after Harty has tired of waiting and decides to move on, it’s unclear exactly what he’s left behind.

Such is the strength of his smooth, world-weary baritone voice that the listener doesn’t really care. One thing is plain: Harty’s been left waiting one too many times.

In some ways, both Harty’s ominous baritone and the up-tempo snare work that powers the tune along at a brisk clip, recall some of Rodney Crowell’s less pop-oriented material. However, Harty, who hails from North Dakota, doesn’t have Crowell’s ironical Texas sensibility. Instead of suggesting his state of mind with some well chosen details, Harty lays bare the essential conflict of the lyrics straight away, and asks anyone who dares to feel the existential ache of his disappointment and frustration.

A lot of singers can’t pull off that kind of unmediated honesty. Fact is, they don’t have the richness of character or depth of soul or whatever it is that makes you want to crawl up close to the emotional core of a musical performance. But Harty has it, and if you let him he’ll stroke every bruised emotion and baleful thought that’s ever touched your troubled mind. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The pros in Austin and Nashville have nothing on this guy.-Tom Laskin - Isthmus

"....one of the brightest new things in the country blues genre."

"... a singer/songwriter prodigy."
-Simon O'Duffy - The Guardian, Nenagh, County Tipperary Ireland

Josh Harty is one of those naturals who you're not sure if you should applaud in adoration or strangle out of envy. - Duluth News Tribune

5***** material.......from the lyrics...to the vocal....to the production, with style & substance for a chaser. Thanks for sending, Eddie Russel - Outlaw for Peace(Radio Show)

North Dakotan Josh Harty made his singer-songwriter name in Madison, Wisconsin's thriving folk scene with his appealing, sympathetic vocal, comfortingly reminiscent of Gordon Lightfoot, and expert guitar style that settle you immediately at ease. Unadorned and honest, his writing on his debut album is informed and knowledgeable way beyond his years, skilled in honouring what's gone before whilst sounding absolutely of today and his stories are simple, believable - this guy knows his stuff. Lead-off track December's chugga-chugga railroad rhythm, fuelled by great guitar picking and bluesy slide guitar playing, takes forlorn loner Harty to the Empire Bar for a lonely night with too-many sad juke-box songs to play but too few quarters in his pocket - a creamer, with superb blues guitar and thumping drums. Which Way I Go delivers polished writing and rounded folksy-country rock performance, and you just know that Harty and his band are dynamite live in a bar or club environment. Like most good things, its best to spend quality time getting familiar these songs that exist in the twilight hours of isolation where they know the broken, the broke and the heart-broken, by their first names. File this, after you've bought it, under premier league alt-country Americana - a superb album.-Peter Innes - AllGigs.co.uk

It’s been a long time coming but well worth the wait.

Josh, Josh – where have you been? We’ve been waiting for you. We need someone with songs that help us heal. At last you’ve arrived and thank the Lord for that.

This is Harty’s second album, arriving six years after his debut “Three Day Notice”. Now I’ve never heard his first album, but his second feels like a long lost friend has arrived home after being away for far too long. Someone with whom you can pick up things immediately despite the intervening years of absence. This album provides that sort of familiarity and intimacy.

Apparently this album went through a number of different recording stages, and producers, until Harty was happy with it, but he’s produced something he can be proud of, and the angst he experienced was worthwhile.

‘December’ and ‘Time’ displays some fine finger picking, which he may well have picked up from his support slots with Kelly Joe Phelps, and the latter surges along with an accompanying accordion, whilst the former brings in some tough, but gentle, searing lead guitar.

He revisits the picking style as a brief intro to ‘Where Did I Go Wrong?’ which then develops into a very catchy tune with some lovely understated lead guitar. ‘Overtime’ has got that picking again, and perhaps, thinking about it a little more, it’s because of this virtuosity that he was invited to support Phelps?

I’m not a huge fan of the finger picking style that Harty is patently so good at, but he doesn’t let it overshadow the entire album, as that could be particularly tiresome and make us all run for the hills. He uses his dextrous fingers to pick out a tune or a rhythm and then utilises the rest of the band to provide a much rounder sound that absolutely compliments what he’s doing. So whilst his particular style is “there”, it’s not overpowering to the point of distraction and he doesn’t flog it to death.

‘Country Song’ tells a simple tale of when someone is feeling down and the other party outlines their feelings of sorrow with the repeated words “I never meant to hurt you”. Ably supported by a cello and Jentri Colello on vocals this short and sweet ballad gets straight to the point.

‘You & I” is a song about a break up that’s been a long time coming, but neither party wants it to end and are trying to find a way to make it work “one more time”. “One more chance and everything’s gonna be alright”, he opines, whilst knowing it just isn’t going to be, “Looking back and we both knew, that over was what this was coming to”.

‘Which Way I Go’ started this theme as the protagonist worries about the state of his relationship and no matter what he does it won’t resolve the issue. Conversely ‘Long Time Coming Down’ is uplifting, both in its musical style and it's optimistic message that things now need to move on.

Songs of sadness and joy are here; all delivered with a certain panache and fully utilising Harty’s baritone timbre that he truly excels at. - Americana UK