Josh Abbott Band is a Texas country band originally from Lubbock, composed … Read Full Bio ↴Josh Abbott Band is a Texas country band originally from Lubbock, composed of Josh Abbott (vocals, guitar), Austin Davis (banjo), Preston Wait (fiddle, guitar, steel), Edward Villanueva (drums), Caleb Keeter (guitar), David Fralin (keys/mandolin), and Jimmy Hartman (bass guitar).

Josh Abbott founded the band in 2006 in Lubbock, Texas while attending Texas Tech University, where he was a member of the Texas Epsilon chapter of Phi Delta Theta. He founded the band while in grad school with fraternity brothers Austin Davis, Neel Huey, and Andrew Hurt. The band recorded a 4-song demo including "Taste" in 2007 along with fiddler Preston Wait and began touring in 2008. Huey and Hurt dropped out to pursue careers while Preston Wait and Eddie Villanueva officially joined. The band then recorded their debut album "Scapegoat" in 2008 as well. Caleb Keeter and James Hertless joined in 2010, with Hertless eventually departing in 2018.

The sophomore album, She's Like Texas, followed in 2010 and entered the Top Country Albums chart. Michael Berick of Allmusic rated it 4 stars out of 5, comparing it to Steve Earle and saying that Abbott's songwriting showed "maturity". They had their first sell-out crowd at "Billy Bobs Texas" in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards on February 10, 2010, selling 6,000 tickets.

"She's Like Texas" includes the single "Oh, Tonight", which entered the Country Songs chart in early 2011 at #59 and peaked at #44. The song is a duet with Kacey Musgraves, the Nashville Star Season 5 finalist and Universal Music recording artist.

The band's third CD, Small Town Family Dream, was released on April 24, 2012. It was their highest charting album, debuting at #5 on Top Country Albums, selling 21,000 copies in the US in its first week. The second single, "Touch", was released in early February and was made available digitally on February 14. Its music video includes the reality TV star Melissa Rycroft and her husband Tye Strickland, another of Abbott's fraternity brothers. The single was featured in the motion picture The Longest Ride, based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks.

In August 2015, the band announced their fourth studio album, titled Front Row Seat, a concept album detailing Abbott's relationship and failed marriage. The first single off of the album, "Amnesia", was released in August 2015 with SiriusXM The Highway premiering the lyric video for the single. "Front Row Seat" was released everywhere on November 6, 2015, and debuted on the Top Country Albums chart at #9, selling 12,800 copies in its first week.

Josh Abbott Band's single "Wasn't That Drunk", featuring Carly Pearce, was released to radio on March 21, 2016. The second single from Front Row Seat, "Wasn't That Drunk", garnered attention from a national radio and media audience. The band made their national television debut with the single on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on May 31, 2016 and performed "Amnesia" on CONAN on January 18, 2017.

On August 18, 2017 Josh Abbott Band released their 5th studio album titled "Until My Voice Goes Out" which included a string and horn section. The string and horn section were also incorporated on the national "Until My Voice Goes Out" tour. "Until My Voice Goes Out is an eclectic album built from Abbott’s life experiences ranging from the birth of his daughter to the sudden and heartbreaking death of his father one month into the album-making process, all weaved together with striking strings and horns."

The band performed at the 2017 Route 91 Harvest, the scene of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.

All Of A Sudden
Josh Abbott Band Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Time don't freeze
And the world goes 'around
What goes up
Must come down
But when you said you were gonna leave
I guess that's when it occurred to me

All of a sudden

I can't call you baby
All of a sudden
Our address ain't the same
All of a sudden
We ain't lovin'
All of a sudden
Everything changed
All of a sudden
Everything changed

I get off work
But I don't go home
Ain't in a hurry
To be alone
No dinner dates, no movie nights
Man I'm livin' a whole new life

All of a sudden
I can't call you baby
All of a sudden
Our address ain't the same
All of a sudden
We ain't lovin'
All of a sudden
Everything changed
All of a sudden
Everything changed

You head your warnings
I kept ignoring
I guess I didn't know what I really had

All of a sudden
Can't call you baby
All of a sudden
Our address ain't the same
All of a sudden
We ain't lovin'
All of a sudden
Everything changed
All of a sudden
Everything changed

All of a sudden
I can't call you baby
All of a sudden
Our address ain't the same
All of a sudden
We ain't lovin'
All of a sudden
Everything changed

All of a sudden
Everything changed

Overall Meaning

The song "All Of A Sudden" by Josh Abbott Band is a heart-wrenching ballad about a painful breakup. The opening lines of the song convey the message that life is in constant motion and nothing is permanent. But when his lover tells him she's leaving him, the narrating character finds that everything around him changes in a flash as his life is upended. He can no longer call her affectionate names like "baby" and the address they once shared is no longer his. His world suddenly feels empty, and he can't seem to find meaning in his routine anymore. The chorus repeats the same lines over and over again, emphasizing that his "whole new life" is vastly different from the one he had before.

Line by Line Meaning

Time don't freeze
Time keeps moving forward and doesn't stop

And the world goes 'around
Life goes on, things continue to happen

What goes up
Things that seem to be going well

Must come down
Are bound to fall apart

But when you said you were gonna leave
When you told me you wanted to break up

I guess that's when it occurred to me
It finally hit me and I realized what was happening

All of a sudden
Suddenly, without warning or preparation

I can't call you baby
I can't use that term of endearment for you anymore

Our address ain't the same
We're no longer living in the same place

We ain't lovin'
We're not in a relationship anymore

Everything changed
My whole life shifted and nothing feels the same