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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2008 > April > 18
Friday, April 18, 2008
4/18: Finally— the Josh Gracin interview!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ABOVE: From his appearance last year at a 94.9/The Bull client party.
Okay. It’s a quiet day, a day to finally bring out the Josh Gracin interview!
He was more forthcoming than he was the last time I interviewed him two years ago and seemed to be in a much better place, more comfortable, just happier.
Gracin’s career, post “Idol,’ opened strong with three top 10 country singles and 670,000 copies sold of his first CD in 2004-05. Then he hit a wall as he worked on his sophomore release. Lyric Street released what was going to be the first single of the second album in March 2006, “Favorite State of Mind.” It did okay, breaking the top 20, but wasn’t a breakout hit. So the album got held.
At this stage of his career, all the time he’d been spending on the road promoting his records had taken a toll on his personal life. (He’s married with kids.) And he said he ultimately wasn’t satisfied with the way the album was coming together. He changed producers and he wanted to get more involved in writing his own songs.
Ultimately, he said, if “Favorite State of Mind” had become a massive hit, the album would have come out, an album “I was not happy with, not comfortable with. It should have been better.”
That’s what got him to the current single “We Weren’t Crazy,” an autobiographical song. “I had just gotten off the road,” he said. “I thought about how my parents disapproved of my relationship when I was 16. [He married his high school sweetheart.] I thought about how people thought I was crazy joining the Marines. I’m fortunate it’s worked out three kids and 11 years later. I proved them wrong. I wasn’t crazy!”
He admitted that the post-“Idol” whirlwind meant strain on his marriage. “A lot of those times, I was gone. When you are a high school sweetheart and things are moving so far, you grow up at your own time. It’s hard to really get a chance to figure each other out. A lot of family members around me went through hard times and stuck it through. I wanted to set an example. I believe once you get married, whatever hard times you have, you figure it out and don’t take the easy way out. We try to do anything and everything we can to make it feel like there isn’t a disconnect. Just last night, I finally played around with my Mac. I figured out how to do an iChat. My kids can see me through the computer and I can see them back before I go to bed at night.”
He also wrote a song that he literally placed on the album at the last second, an ode to his wife “Unbelievable (Ann Marie).” He penned it in January and actually played it for the first time at Cowboy’s in Kennesaw:
“I wanted to immortalize my love [of my wife] and our time together,” he said. “It really has no traditional verse and chorus structure. That’s why it’s unique to me. It will be the second single.” When he played it at Cowboy’s, “they loved it. It was definitely a defining moment.” That convinced him to put it on the album.
He said that was his third or fourth trip to Cowboys. “The crowds have gotten bigger and bigger,” he said. “I love going there.”
He wasn’t miffed that “Idol’ skipped over him for their recently Nashville update, which featured Phil Stacey, Bo Bice and Bucky Covington. “I hope that later on down the line, they’ll give me a chance to get back on the show and perform and show how much I’ve changed and grown as a musician.”
Gracin’s current CD “We Weren’t Crazy” has sold 25,000 copies over two weeks. I spoke to him just as he was getting first-week sales of 18,000 (compared to about 57,000 from his first CD.) “Normally, I’d be upset,” he said. “But I haven’t had anything in the marketplace in four years. And everything is going digital. I’m not upset.” He noted that 35% of his sales came from iTunes which is high for a country artist.
His current single “We Weren’t Crazy” is edging up the country chart and is now at No. 25.
I asked him his memories of “Idol” dredged back up courtesy of ‘Idol Rewind” in syndication. He was eliminated Bee Gees week. “It brings back memories of me never singing disco again!” He said he has nothing negative to say about his Idol experience. “I didn’t sing anywhere near as I would have liked but vocal cords are like muscles you have to build and that was a great way to do it,” he said. “You can really hear the changes in my voice from the first to the second album. I’ve grown as a singer.”
He has also lost weight. During his incessant touring, he gained 80 pounds, he said. He has since lost 65 of it. He cut out milk and soda. “You name it, I cut it out,” he said. “I used to drink a gallon and a half of milk a week. That’s a lot of fat grams. I just drink iced tea with Sweet & Low and water.”
In other news:
-Paula Abdul, who canceled on the NBC “Today” show April 25 performance, will be on now August 29, according to the New York Post.
-Carmen Rasmussen wrote a first person piece about how she was not given equal treatment in terms of coaching as others during her season. Fascinating stuff.
I only received minimal vocal coaching from “American Idol” voice instructor Debra Byrd. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times I actually received applicable, specific advice from her. Most of the time, it was, “You sound good. Just do your thing.” Or, “You need to work on your high notes.”
One day, as I was waiting downstairs for my private singing lesson, Clay Aiken was in the music room. I could hear him going over and over his song, dissecting it.
Finally, after about 30 minutes, the door opened. It was my turn. I walked in and sang my song about three times before being dismissed. Hardly the personal one-on-one attention Aiken had just received.
And this:
But perhaps more than wardrobe or vocal coaching, performance coaching was the one thing we needed the most — and received the least. Besides performing for my mom or in front of the mirror, I wasn’t given any outside perspective on what does and does not come across well on camera.
Some of the contestants this year have received negative comments on looking “overrehearsed” — but how would they know what looks good if no one takes the time to help them out?
-Brian Dunkleman finally admits he was wrong quitting “Idol” after season one. But he still comes off as sanctimonious in this TV Guide interview.
TVGuide.com: You know, I have to ask, what in the world made you quit American Idol?
Dunkleman: I’ve answered it so many times it’s curious to me why I keep getting asked — I wish I had gotten fired, it would be a hell of a lot easier to deal with. I don’t understand why people would think I would lie about it at this point. It was such a big mistake in judgment, it’s embarrassing. I was unhappy on the show, they treated the kids like [crap], I didn’t think it was cool. If I had known it was going to run for 70 years I would have sucked it up and become callous like the rest of them. I had a lot of great experiences on Idol, but I just have a deep philosophical opposition to what they do.
