“One of my long-term goals is to keep my sound one step ahead of the rest; … Read Full Bio ↴“One of my long-term goals is to keep my sound one step ahead of the rest; I want to be what everyone else is chasing,” and with that in mind, 25-year-old singer/songwriter and Nashville recording artist Josh Dorr hit the ground running with a bold and ambitious mindset for the release of his 2014 major-label debut, the four-song Josh Dorr – EP.

Produced by Jim Catino, the collection features three songs co-written by Dorr on an EP that underscores the lyric-driven, rock-edged brand of country that Dorr calls his own.

The youngest of three brothers, Dorr grew up in a close-knit family in the resource-rich oil and coal-mining city of Gillette, Wyoming, where the wide-open fields and rolling hills also helped to fuel Dorr’s love of sports and the outdoors. Football became his passion in high school and college, initially attracting attention from recruiters until multiple injuries had him rethinking his direction.

“I had a gut-check kind of thing, like, ‘Are you gonna keep rehabbing and rehabbing just to get back to where you used to be a year ago?’ And then finally, I just decided it wasn’t for me, and I had to quit,” Dorr recalls, but with an ankle on the mend and time on his hands, he picked up an unused guitar that he’d been given a few years earlier.

“I just started playin’, tryin’ to learn some chords, and that’s when my friend put me in this college talent show. My first time playing for anyone – I was too shy to even play in front of my friends or my mom – and I played in front of 700 people and thought I was gonna have a heart attack. Probably out of sympathy, they were screaming and clapping when I got done, and it was just the kind of adrenaline rush that I needed to fill the void of what football did for me. And it probably saved me from getting in a lot of trouble.”

With his college football days behind him, Dorr decided to join his friends and enroll at the University of Wyoming for what was to be the start of his junior year, only to find that all of his past college credits wouldn’t transfer, leaving him essentially a freshman – and at a crossroads.

“I went by myself in a college town, went to the bar at like 3 in the afternoon and just was sitting there, trying to figure out what my next step was gonna be, and this bar band was in there sound checking, and I knew who the guy was: his name was Chancey Williams.” As luck would have it, Williams grew up with Dorr’s sister-in-law, and the two struck up a conversation.

“He asked me what I was doing, and I told him my whole story, and he goes, ‘Well, do you like country music?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’ And he offered to get me an internship in Nashville. About a month later, I got the call, packed up my stuff, and drove to Nashville in the summer of 2010; my car barely made it.”

Back-to-back internships at a record label and a music publisher offered perspective on the music industry, and Dorr also started writing songs.

“I kind of caught the bug, ’cause I’d always written stuff, whether it was poems or short stories through school, but I didn’t really understand why I wanted to do it; I just kind of liked it. Now I get why I was doing those things; it’s because I was meant to be here writing songs, but it just took a little while for me to figure it out.”

Musically, Dorr was reared on country radio of the ’90s: “I’m a huge Dwight Yoakam fan,” he says, citing Garth Brooks, George Strait, and Brooks & Dunn among the voices that helped define his country listening.

“Some of my best memories growing up were just riding around in my dad’s truck – back when seat-belt laws weren’t really that big in Wyoming,” Dorr smiles, “and I’d be walkin’ around on the bench seat, and I don’t know why, but ‘Heartland,’ the George Strait song, is like a time machine for me. Every time I hear that song, I am standing on my dad’s seat in his truck.”

Dorr’s college-era listening offered more than the two clear radio stations in Gillette, exposing him to a range of talent that broadened his palette beyond country, including such artists as Tom Petty, The Wallflowers, Dave Grohl, Ryan Adams, and John Mayer.

“I love the storylines of country and mixing that with the rock & roll edge that I try to bring to my style of country.” Noting the openness of the country format, Dorr says, “It’s great for people like me because I’m not a straightforward George Strait traditional kind of guy; I grew up on that, but it’s just my own thing.”

Lyrically, Dorr also wants to build a candor into his songs, “saying things in a way that I want to say ’em, and not being afraid to say it.”

But musically or lyrically, it’s Dorr’s passion to create music that will endure: “We want it to be cool now and cool 10 years from now, and then 20 years from now.”

But Dorr hit a pivotal moment in 2012 when his apartment caught fire, leaving him with little more than a few clothes, a guitar, and the songs he’d written on a now-waterlogged laptop. Debating a return to Wyoming or trying to rebuild his life and bus tables or whatever he needed to do to keep pursuing music in Nashville, Dorr took it as a sign when his still-functioning laptop recovered to where he’d left it: on his music player, with the song “Fire and Rain.”

Dorr smiles, “That was a big moment in my life.”

Recommitted, Dorr’s renewed focus led to co-writes on songs that landed in the USA Network series Necessary Roughness, as the theme to the Pursuit Channel series Open Season, and on the upcoming album from Casey James – a song that brought him to the attention of RCA and helped earn Dorr his record deal.

And with the launch of his debut EP, Dorr’s sights are set on the long haul, and he hopes that listeners will become fans, and that the fans will have as much fun as he does, as he says, “I just want to throw ’em on my back and take ’em on the journey with me.”

All Or Nothing
Josh Dorr Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Can you feel the horses running through my heart?
They've been running toward you,
have been from the start
Lightning in the desert,
your image flashes through
There's a violet falling,
I'm falling hard for you

It's all or nothing, all or nothing
Nothing less than all my love
Telling you something, what you've got coming
It's nothing less than all my loving

You can't halfway pull the trigger,
can't halfway turn and run
I wouldn't say forever,
if you weren't the one
Day or night, black or white,
it's love or it's not
But I ain't wasting one more moment,
gonna give you all I got

It's all or nothing, all or nothing
Nothing less than all my love
Telling you something, what you've got coming
It's nothing less than all my loving
Yeah, all my loving

And it's all or nothing, all or nothing
All or nothing, what you've got coming

It's all or nothing, all or nothing
Nothing less than all my love
Telling you something, what you've got coming
It's nothing less than all my loving
Yeah, all my loving

And it's all or nothing, all or nothing
All or nothing, what you've got coming

It's all or nothing, all or nothing
Nothing less than all my love
Telling you something, what you've got coming

It's nothing less than all my loving
Yeah, all my loving

Overall Meaning

The beginning of Josh Dorr’s song "All or Nothing" is a poetic description of the intensity of the singer’s feelings for someone he is in love with. He describes feeling like a herd of horses is running inside his chest, all directed towards this one person. He sees her image in his mind as a lightning bolt in the desert, which is both unexpected and powerful. He says that he is falling hard for her, using the metaphor of a violet falling, indicating just how deeply he is falling in love.

The chorus repeats the idea of all or nothing, emphasizing that he cannot give anything less than his all in this relationship. He sings that he is telling her something, warning her that he is offering nothing less than his entire heart and love. He insists that there is no halfway in love; it is either all or nothing. He says that he wouldn't make promises of forever if she weren't the one, meaning that he is certain that she is the person he wants to love for eternity. He declares that he won't waste a single moment, giving her all the love he has.

Line by Line Meaning

Can you feel the horses running through my heart?
My heart is racing with excitement and anticipation because I am so deeply in love with you.

They've been running toward you, have been from the start
My heart has been leading me straight to you from the very beginning, and I can't ignore these intense feelings anymore.

Lightning in the desert, your image flashes through
Your presence is like a sudden, powerful bolt of lightning in the midst of an otherwise dry, desolate landscape. You ignite my passion and fill me with hope and happiness.

There's a violet falling, I'm falling hard for you
I am deeply, romantically falling in love with you, and it's happening fast. The feeling is akin to suddenly falling from a high place and watching the world rush past around me.

It's all or nothing, all or nothing
I'm giving you everything I have, with no reservations or hesitation. This love is intense and absolute, and I refuse to hold anything back.

Nothing less than all my love
I am offering you my whole heart and soul. You deserve nothing less from me and I am committed to giving you everything I can.

Telling you something, what you've got coming
I need you to know exactly how I feel and how much I love you. You deserve to hear the truth and know that I am willing to give you everything.

You can't halfway pull the trigger, can't halfway turn and run
In love, there is no room for half-measures or uncertainty. I am ready to take a risk and be vulnerable with you. If we are going to be together, we need to be all in, without hesitation or reservation.

I wouldn't say forever, if you weren't the one
I don't throw around phrases like 'forever' lightly. But with you, I know that my feelings are genuine and that you are the one for me. I am willing to commit to a future together because I believe in us.

Day or night, black or white, it's love or it's not
Love is simple and uncomplicated, even in the face of challenging circumstances or difficult decisions. Either we love each other, or we don't. But with you, I know that I love you deeply and completely.

But I ain't wasting one more moment, gonna give you all I got
I refuse to let this opportunity pass me by. I want to give you everything I have while I have the chance, without holding anything back. Life is too short to live any other way.

And it's all or nothing, all or nothing
This love is absolute and total, with no exceptions or conditions. I love you completely and without reservation.

All or nothing, what you've got coming
I am ready to give you everything I have, and I know that you deserve nothing less. I am committed to this love and the future that we can build together.

Nothing less than all my love
I truly believe that you are the one for me, and I am committed to giving you everything I have. This love is all or nothing, and I choose all: all my heart, all my soul, all my love.

Yeah, all my loving
I am yours completely, with all of my love and devotion. There is nothing that I wouldn't do for you, and nothing that could change the way that I feel.

Contributed by Adalyn B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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