Joshua James at The Canal Room, NYC

To all the people of Provo and beyond, there is hope after all. Four score and four months ago, I was able to see Joshua James for the first time, performing for the UVSC crowd for the annual Battle of the Bands. His live show then had as much power as any.

Last night the setting was a bit different. As Joshua has been traveling around the country, he arrived last night at The Canal Room in New York to play an audience of record label reps and wishful thinkers. The crowd was struck by the same sincerity that I saw two years earlier, and the side-chatter that I heard during the performance proved that everyone was falling in love.

The beautiful thing about the way Joshua performs is his ability to be simultaneously soft-spoken and devil-weilding. He has controlled a little skill called contrast, or dynamics. While that can easily be said for his music, it can also most definitely be said for his lyrical content; allowing him to range from lonely love songs, to hair-tearing political anthems.

While the future is uncertain yet promising for this Nebraska-born Provonian, I was happy to see such a soul once more.