Meet Joshua Freshour | Singer-songwriter/small business partner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joshua Freshour and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joshua, how do you think about risk?
Where would any of us be without taking risks ya know? When my partner and I met we knew that we’d be taking a risk merging our lives and family’s together.
I know that isn’t directly what you’re asking here but that particular ‘risk’ we took of deciding to give life together a shot has been the basis for what risks even are for me.

Covid-19 hit and through the loss of my partners job we decided to take the risk of beginning their small business and allowing more of our time to be dedicated to that rather than having them return to a regular every day day job.

As a musician, everytime I step on stage feels like a risk though. I know I’m a very anxious person and I struggle when I know people are watching me, which makes it wild that I even perform music at all since that’s what most of performing is, just having others watch you. Without taking that risk of getting on stage though I’d never get to have those moments where my fingers and my voice melt together and i get to lose myself somewhere in the music.

So I guess to answer the question of “what role has taking risks played in my life and career?” Taking risks have played a part in every part of my life.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I like to say, ‘There are two kinds of people in the world. People who like being alive and people who don’t. We should try to be kind to both.’
If you go to my Instagram I have that in my bio.
So I guess that’s what makes my art/music different than my peers. I try to write songs that anyone can empathize with. I’ve met so many musicians who just think so highly of themselves and think that their music is so important just because they wrote it and I hope to never come across as a narcissist. I want my songs to be meangiful to an audience because they can find themselves in the music.
I’d say that’s been my biggest struggle over the years is learning to write songs for others and not just for myself.
Don’t get me wrong, song writing is one of the absolute best ways for me to work through things in my personal life but instead of writing songs directly about my problems I try to write lyrics by asking myself ‘if I was someone going through this particular something, what would i want to hear or be told’ and I try to write lyrics with that kind of empathy in mind.

I’m most excited to continue putting out new music and for the chance to meet as many new friends as I can!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If someone were to be staying with me for a week or so I think the first place I would take them is for a psychological evaluation because I can be a lot haha. To go with my often over eccentric personality though I would consider myself good company. I’m easy going and constantly try to keep those around me in good spirits. I’d for sure have to take them for a zoo day to either the Columbus or the Cincinnati zoo, preferably both, so I could introduce them to all my animal friends.
As well as being a gigging musician and helping my partner run Sage and Oak, I am also a barista so any visit with my isn’t complete without consuming copious ammounts of coffee. This part of Ohio is full of so many amazing coffee shops so I’d have to hit some of my favorites. The coffee pot, ghostlight coffee, press, purebred are a few of my favorites but I also love trying new shops so I’m sure I’d take whoever to try places I’ve never been before as well.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This might seem trite or kind of silly or whatever to some people but I never would have considered writing songs on my own had it not been for Taylor Swift. Before I had graduated high-school and began to start sitting down and writing tunes on my own I had played bass in a band with my some of my best friends. They were all so talented and I felt blessed just to be a part of playing with them. They were all so much more talented than me that It hadn’t occurred to me that I could take songwriting seriously independent of them. Then around 2006 Taylor Swift’s song ‘Tim McGraw’is one of the biggest songs on country radio. Something about her and I being the same age just resonated with me. She showed me that i didnt have to become John Petrucci or Joe Satriani level of a guitar player to write music that’s worthwhile.

Website: www.thesageandoak.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshua.freshour?igsh=dmtsaHR3Mmlob3gx

Other: Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7cFFVLDIr4u02bK8xq9825?si=9koQ2m8ATQipJtBnk0XOWw