A third-generation musician, who loves music, whiskey and rowdy good times, Hoge fits the profile of a typical, lifelong Nashville resident. But the 25-year-old is also part of a growing community of artists who call Nashville home, but do not ascribe to the city's time-honored twang. But even among those artists, the mix of pop and R&B featured on Hoge's 11-song debut with Epic Records, Call It What You Want, is one-of-a-kind. "Nashville will always be country, but this town is filled with musicians who are open to everything from Bill Monroe to Bill Withers," says Hoge, whose voice is honeyed by a good-old-boy drawl. "That's why there are so many different kinds of music being made here today, for example - rock bands like Kings of Leon. Music City USA used to mean only country, but that's changing."
Hoge traces his old-school R&B roots back to the extensive library of music collected by his dad, a rock singer signed to Epic in the 60s. "A lot of it was passed down to him from his father, who played jazz in the 40s," Hoge explains. "My older brother, who's a popular indie rocker, inherited all of my dad's rock records and I was drawn to all of his soul and R&B music. The first record I can remember hearing was by Jackie Wilson. I fell in love with the way he used his voice like an instrument. It blew me away."
Hoge never outgrew his love for soul music and as a teenager started listening to modern R&B superstars such as Babyface, Boyz II Men and Brian McKnight. Later, he began performing at high school talent shows and at clubs in Nashville on songwriter nights. "Making music is a big part of the culture here. I wrote songs and sang just for fun and to impress girls," he says with a mischievous laugh.
That all changed a few years after high school when Hoge began singing demos of pop songs written by country songwriters. "I was working at a record company running the mailrooms for their biggest artists, when someone found out that I could sing," he recalls. "The next thing I know, I was behind a microphone."
Around the time Hoge got serious about music he also got serious about a girl. Following his heart, he packed up his life and left Nashville behind to follow her to Los Angeles. To make a long story short, things did not work out, and Hoge drove back home to Nashville in a U-Haul. "It was just me going cross-country for 40 hours with my pug, Nelly," he recalls. "I was so pissed about everything that I wound up writing most of the album on the drive home."
Propelled by a fluttering acoustic guitar, smoothed out beats and Hoge admonishing his former lover with, "You do somebody wrong, before too long it's gonna get done to you," Hoge says the first single, "360," helped him work through the break up. "It sounds like a sweet love song, but when you listen to the lyrics what you hear is raw emotion coming through," he explains. "It's the perfect break-up song hoping someone hurts them as much as they hurt you."
Call It What You Want is filled with R&B jams with a rock edge, sexy dance-pop and silky ballads that showcase Hoge's crisp songwriting and dexterous voice. He shifts effortlessly from sweet falsetto to libidinous growl on the driving dance floor track, "Call It," a song inspired by Hoge's experience trying to take a friendship to the next level. "Sometimes when you define a relationship lovers or friends you ruin it," he explains. "In a perfect world, people should listen to their hearts and not to their friends who want to complicate things by slapping some meaningless label on a simple feeling. If it feels right, don't question it; let it develop naturally."
With its opening line, "Well I'm not lying baby, didn't plan on spying baby," Hoge says the guitar-based R&B come-on "Work That Body" is the confession of an accidental peeping tom. "I was trying to capture the magic of those random moments of infatuation, like seeing a pretty girl at the stop light and falling in love until the light turns green," he explains.
Featuring performances by members of John Mellencamp's band, "Take It Or Leave It" embraces the instruments and attitude that made Nashville famous and gives Hoge a chance to put his own unique stamp on the city's sound. "I'm proud of my roots and this song is a declaration of who I am and where I'm from," he says. "To me, the screaming Dobro and thumping backbeat, are the sounds of my two worlds country and city colliding."
To record the string arrangements that give the album closer, "Undone," it's celestial edge, Hoge traveled to Philadelphia the home of one of his favs Boyz II Men. A reflection on the emotional journey that inspired the album, Hoge says the sensitive ballad gives the album a sense of resolution. "You can't let the losses in your life define you," he says. "For me, making Call It What You Want was a healing process and this song is the scar that's left over; a symbol of survival."
Shadow
Josh Hoge Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Wishing you would wash away
Thought i left you far behind
Back when we both said goodbye
Your in every face i see
Even strangers on the street
You live in this radio
There's nowhere that i can go
Try to run, i try to hide
I leave your memory behind
Like a shadow you wont leave
I take you everywhere with me
Take you everywhere with me
I would walk across the world
A million miles from what we were
If that would free me from your chains
Help me forget your name
Try to run i try to hide
I leave your memory behind
Like a shadow you wont leave
I take you everywhere with me
Take you everywhere with me
I cant shake you
I cant make you go away
And i cant take this haunting me for one more day
Try to run, i try to hide
Leave your memory behind
Like a shadow you wont leave
I take you everywhere with me
Try to run, i try to hide
I leave your memory behind
But like a shadow you wont leave
I take you everywhere with me
Take you everywhere with me
The song "Shadow" by Josh Hoge portrays the difficulty of letting go and moving on from a past relationship that seems to haunt the singer. He describes his attempt to distance himself from his ex-lover, but finds their memories following him everywhere, like a shadow. The metaphor of a shadow is used to suggest that the memory of his past love is inescapable and constantly present, even when he tries to ignore it.
The lyrics convey a feeling of torment and emotional turmoil that the singer experiences. He wishes for the rain to wash away his thoughts and memories of his former partner, but the pain and hurt remain. He laments that he can't rid himself of the memories, and no matter how far he tries to go, he can't escape them. His desperation is evident in lines such as "I can't shake you, I can't make you go away, and I can't take this haunting me for one more day."
The chorus repeats the line "I take you everywhere with me" which reinforces the idea that the memory of the relationship is ever-present with the singer, and there seems to be no escape from it. The song beautifully captures the feeling of being stuck in the past and not being able to move on from a relationship that has ended.
Line by Line Meaning
Driving in the pouring rain
Traveling in a heavy downpour of rain
Wishing you would wash away
Desiring for memories of someone to disappear like raindrops washed away by the rain
Thought I left you far behind
Thinking that a person is left in the past and no longer a part of the present
Back when we both said goodbye
Recalling a previous mutual decision to end a relationship
You're in every face I see
Not being able to escape the memories of a person, even in unfamiliar faces
Even strangers on the street
Seeing resemblance of someone not only in people you know but also in strangers
You live in this radio
Feeling as though reminders of someone are constantly present, even in mass media
There's nowhere that I can go
Thinking that everywhere someone goes, memories of another person follow
Try to run, I try to hide
Making attempts to escape or forget a person, but failing to do so
I leave your memory behind
Trying to move on from thoughts and emotions associated with another person
Like a shadow you won't leave
Comparing memories of someone to a shadow that constantly follows an individual
I take you everywhere with me
Acknowledging that memories of someone travel with someone everywhere they go
I would walk across the world
Expressing willingness to go to great lengths to remove thoughts of someone from one's mind
A million miles from what we were
Describing severe emotional distance between individuals after ending a relationship
If that would free me from your chains
Desiring to break free from the emotional attachment to someone
Help me forget your name
Desiring to forget identifying details associated with someone
I can't shake you
Feeling emotionally attached or fixated on someone, even when trying to move on
I can't make you go away
Feeling unable to escape someone's lasting presence or memory
And I can't take this haunting me for one more day
Expressing distress over feeling haunted by thoughts of someone and desiring to move on
Contributed by Abigail D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.