Music’s what they fear, ‘cause music brings the people together…
Born and (mostly) raised in Nashville, TN, I’m no stranger to music. I began trying to write songs in high school and started performing original music in my first band Gazpacho while attending the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in the 1990’s. After graduating with a degree in Psychology, I moved back to Nashville to stake my claim as a singer-songwriter. My first Nashville-based band, Kombucha, was short-lived but provided the song-based, improvisation-infused style I deploy to this day. Professional and family responsibilities kept me mostly on the musical sidelines in the aughts through the early 2010s. In 2014, I co-founded Natchez Tracers with Lewis Stubbs, After a decade, we decided to lay the Tracers to rest to pursue other creative endeavors. All along, I’ve often played solo shows, writers rounds and collaborated on other recording projects and live performances with other artists. I am presently coming off of sabbatical. In early 2025, I’m unveiling a new music project - JOSH WOMACK’S TURQUOISE GATE. This new band consists of a core group on powerhouse players. The TURQUOISE GATE combines the instrumental and arrangement richness of 1970’s bands with the singer-songwriter focus on lyrics and melodies. It’s a little funky, it’s a little folky, It’s also got healthy dose of edginess, weirdness and grit. You’ll be dancin’ while you’re thinkin’ and feelin’. Please reach out to me at joshw@joshwomack.com if you’re interested in booking Turquoise Gate or me solo for a show, headlining or supporting slot, festival performance, a charity function or any other music/entertainment collaborations you may have in mind.
30 Years Adrift
I dropped my song 30 YEARS ADRIFT to the streaming platforms this summer. I hope that you all will give it a listen. It's a psychedelic sea shanty of sorts. It's losely historical fiction, based on the New Zealand-based merchant vessel - the Marlbourough - which mysteriously vanished while at sea in the late 1800's. I wrote it in early 2016. Ironically, Sturgill Simpson released his album A Sailor's Guide To Earth with its Sea-theme right after I penned this. Sturgill released a new album this summer, that seems to continue his pirate/sea theme. Yeah. Weird, right?
This song was kind of a stand-alone piece that didn't seem like it fit in the Natchez Tracers repertoire, so it sat unplayed and unreleased for many years. Back in the fall of 2022, I went to go record a different tune that also seemed distantaced from the Tracers sound...Backwoods Planet. During that session, it seemed appropriate to pair it with 30 Years Adrift, as the subject matter for both songs deals with mystery and perhaps, things considered "supernatural."
I would like to thank Grammy-award winning Audio Engineer/Producer Casey Wood for capturing the essence and intention of this song through his recording skills and present "ears." Bill Ferri played solid, foundational bass grooves, Ben Sparaco soars with beautiful electric guitar parts, Jimmy Matt Rowland added Mellotron and other subtle synth parts for magic sprinkles and Jon Radford delievered a solid pocket on drums, in additional to helping me with percussion (particularly the "side of the ship" clanks, jingles and scrapes in the outro). I kinda like my acoustic parts, but I'm especially proud my vocal delivery, the lyrics and arrangement of the song. Last, but not least, my friend Joachim Coppolino executed some great cover art for the single. He's a fine artist. A real artist that still makes original art from scratch, using multiple mediums to capture his visions.
Thank you all for helping bring this song to life with me. Real art, by real humans...for humans. What a concept.
Backwoods Planet (press release)
On May 12th 2022, the first photo of the black hole at the center of our galaxy was released. A few days later on May 17th, 2022 the United States Congress had its first hearing on UFOs in 50 years. And then, on May 4th last year, our nation was shook with horror as almost two dozen elementary school children were senselessly and savagely gunned down by a teenage shooter in a small West Texas town.
The events over those days profoundly jolted Josh Womack’s senses. The lyrics of Backwoods Planet came together quickly in late May 2022. Within them, we find Womack pondering humanity’s violent nature and existential ignorance regarding our collective and individual importance to the universe’s reality. Womack contemplates that perhaps we are being observed or even guarded by an intelligence greater than our own, while he grapples with the nature and meaning of his own personal experiences regarding unexplained aerial phenomena.
Womack employs a soft, almost whispering approach to the vocals through most of the track until elevating it to urgency with the song’s final refrain “26,000 lonely light years from the black hole at the core.” While the literal reference is to our tiny blue dot of a planet way out here in our galaxy’s backwoods, one wonders if Womack might be delivering a more metaphorical observation concerning abject emotional isolation and aggressive anxiety affecting so many of us in this modern age.
Womack’s acoustic guitar here is simple while mirroring the lyrically melancholic tone. Joining Josh on the song, is musical prodigy Ben Sparaco on electric guitar and synthesizers, Natchez Tracers bassist Bill Ferri and Nashville’s renown Jon Radford on drumkit and percussion. Womack’s friends and fellow artists Rachel Cole and Laura Maine contribute haunting background vocals support. Backwoods Planet was engineered, co-produced, mixed and mastered by Multi Grammy winner Casey Woods at his The Insanery studio in Nashville, TN. The track is spacious and atmospheric and builds to an inspirational crescendo from the bridge through the song’s resolution. And quite literally, actual sounds from space make cameo appearances in the mix if one listens closely and intently enough.
Another song from this session, 30 Years Adrift, will be released shortly after Backwoods Planet. While rooted firmly in Womack’s songwriting style, these songs showcase a more mellow and story-telling aspect of his work. While perhaps a slight departure from the Natchez Tracers sound, these aural vignettes serve as a nice compliment to the band’s work as they prepare for more live shows for the fall of 2023 and begin work on their next album to be released in 2024.
Backwoods Planet was independently released on May 19th, 2023 and is available on all major streaming platforms .
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