Pop-Culturalist.com

Josh Herbert is a multifaceted talent who knows a thing or two about building communities and creating content that resonates. Whether he’s writing hit songs like “In Our Own Little World” or giving fans a glimpse into his life through daily vlogs, Josh has connected with audiences around the globe. Recently, he and his wife Abby launched their brand new podcast Who Wears the Pants, which features vulnerable and honest conversations between the pair. Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Josh about the project, his music career, and more.

PC: You started out in this industry as a singer-songwriter. What has that transition been like going from music to content creation?
Josh: It’s been a wild journey. I’ve been at it since I was ten years old. As the years progressed, so did technology and social media.

In 2015, Facebook was the big platform at the time. I was putting covers out almost daily on it and pushing videos of different songs that were trending and on the Hot 100. It was interesting to see how things then changed to Instagram. Then came TikTok. But at that stage in my life, I had already gone on tour. I had spent time in Nashville, LA, and New York.

I felt like I was almost hanging up the guitar at that point in a way. I was still doing it for fun and still putting music out. Then all of a sudden TikTok came. I was doing different content as opposed to music. I was still throwing some songs out here and there on my personal one. But on Abby’s page, we were mainly doing couple things and really building a community there, so it wasn’t too much of an adjustment. It was more so adjusting the type of content that I was doing.

PC: You’ve also been open about the ups and downs of being a creative and content creator. During those more challenging times, how were you able to stay motivated and push forward?
Josh: As a musician and someone who’s putting themselves out there, you’re your own worst critic in a way. It took me a long time to accept and realize that. I would spend hours listening to videos before I even posted them. I was like, “This is terrible. I’m not good enough.” Then I’d put it out. Sometimes I would immediately delete it after ten minutes. I would get down on myself and say, “Oh, man. I’m not good enough.” There’s a part of that that’s good in a way because you’re always going to drive yourself to be better, but sometimes it can be toxic when you’re just constantly putting your own self down.

After the tour, I started to accept my voice. That being said, I always tell everyone I’m not the best singer in the world, but there’s something special to be said about everybody’s voice. We’re all unique. Nobody has the same voice and everybody has something different to say. Once I found comfort in that and accepted my voice and started singing what I wanted to sing and how I wanted to sing it, the reception was great. People were like, “Wow, I really love your voice. I love your tone.” I really started to hone in and honestly stopped caring so much about what other people said and just enjoyed it. I started putting out more and more.

PC: On the flip side of that, you’ve also had tons of success throughout your career. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out?
Josh: There are a lot. I took a lot of leaps of faith and risks. You have to go for it. When I got the call to go on tour with the Dixie Chicks that was unreal. I felt like, “Wow, this is it. I’ve made it.”

It’s funny. You do that and go through all of that, and then you’re like, “I guess I still have to keep going.” You’re always going to be chasing something. It’s like every time that you feel like you’ve leveled up, there is another level that you want to achieve. I’m so grateful for all the opportunities, but I’d say probably that was the moment when I was like, “Wow, all this hard work of me singing in my bedroom and getting up on stage, even though I was afraid to get on stage in front of people, it all paid off.”

PC: You’re also incredibly passionate about health and wellness. What have you learned as an athlete that you’ve been able to apply to the different areas of your career?
Josh: I take that into all aspects of my life, and it took me a long time. When I was in college, I did the college stuff. I’d party and wake up and be like, “Why don’t I feel great?” Hmm, I wonder why. [laughs] Because I’d been up for 24 hours straight. But yeah, I really enjoyed cooking. When I got out of college, I was living by myself. I was cooking my own meals, and I always liked eating healthy because I felt better when I ate better. It got me really passionate about it. I enjoyed cooking, and there was something really therapeutic there. I saw the benefits that I was getting by putting good things in my body. I was getting good things out of it in all aspects—mental health and physical health—and I felt more clarity throughout my day. It’s something that I do daily and I’m passionate about. It’s never like, “I can’t eat this cookie right now because I’m going to be fat,” or something like that. It was always like, “I could maybe substitute this for something else that might make me feel better.” I’m not trying to not eat something. Trust me, I crush food. I crush food on the weekends. I’m not going to lie to you, but it’s a healthy balance. I enjoy everything that I eat.

PC: You’ve got a podcast out called Who Wears the Pants. It’s honest and vulnerable conversations on an array of different topics. How did you and Abby come up with the idea for it?
Josh: It was something that we had in our arsenal. We were like, “Down the road, we’d love to have some sort of podcast.” Luckily, this was such a whirlwind for us, and we’ve been lucky enough to stay super busy. We’re like, “Oh my goodness. How are we going to fit a podcast into our schedule?” We figured out a way. We had a day a week when we recorded our podcast. It’s been great. It’s almost like a therapy session for us. We get to sit down there. We work together, we live together, we live our life together, and it’s good for us to go down there and talk about whatever’s going on or interview whoever and step away from our roles for a bit. We’ve been enjoying it, and the reception has been great so far. Everything’s going really well with it.

PC: You also shared on social media that this podcast has been one of, if not your favorite project. What has made it so special?
Josh: We really wanted to focus on production. Before we even started, Abby and I were like, “We really want to make this good not only for people listening but also for people watching.” A lot of people were coming over from our YouTube channel where they’re used to watching daily vlogs. That was one of the aspects where we were like, “Well, we want this to be very visible.” So we took a lot of time on production and lighting. We built an awesome set for it, and I’m super proud of that. Everyone has been enjoying it. We could have set up a camera in front of a blank wall and gone with it, but we really took the time and care because we knew this product was going to help a lot of people and make their days enjoyable by listening to it.

PC: What can fans expect from the future of the podcast?
Josh: We’re actually going to introduce more and more live guests in person via Skype and Zoom. We definitely have plans. We have a whole list of awesome content creators, musicians, well-known people, and some local people that have different types of jobs and roles that are interesting. We’ve really found that bringing as many people as we can from different backgrounds and hearing their stories is really cool.

PC: How has fatherhood changed the way that you approach and see your career?
Josh: It’s changed everything because I don’t matter anymore. I’m just kidding. But it’s my daughter’s world now. I live for her every day, and I live for Abby. It’s funny how when you look back before being a parent, you’re like, “Wow, I was quite selfish. I was selfish with my time and I was selfish with what I was doing and what I was into. Everything was about me. That really took some time.” But obviously, when you have a child that doesn’t matter anymore. You really start to take advantage of the windows of time that you do have for yourself. You get as much done as you can.

It’s definitely been a struggle. I’m not going to lie. She doesn’t have a schedule, so you’ve got to do what she wants. But it’s been great. It actually makes you a lot tougher in the end because you’re not only dealing with yourself, you’re dealing with others, and it’s such a good way to figure out how to schedule and how to prioritize. It’s made me a much better person. I truly believe that.

PC: It’s been a couple of years since you dropped your last single. Is there more music on the way?
Josh: For sure. I dropped one when Poppy was born, and then I dropped another one a few months later. I had these ready to go, and it was not long after that that everything started taking off for Abby and I and our content creation. I had to put music on the back burner for a bit, but I’ve been going through my backlog here and there. I had plans to come out with a ten-song album right after Poppy was born. I didn’t know at the time. I was like, “I’m going to have a baby. She’s going to sleep all the time. I can record music.” Now flash forward, and that’s not how it works. But we’re getting a great schedule down, and we have a lot of help. I do have plans to release things: some more singles and hopefully that ten-song album.

Every year, I make a goal book. I write down ten to fifteen goals that I want for the year. Every year, I’ve written down this ten-song album. Some years, I’m not able to get there. That’s okay. It just bumps over to the next year. That’s definitely in the wheelhouse for me, hopefully in 2023. We put more content out. People are realizing, “Oh, Josh does music.” It’s been fun seeing people discover my music for the first time, even though the music’s been out there for a couple of years now.

PC: Outside of Abby and your family, who or what has had the biggest influence on your career as a singer-songwriter and why?
Josh: Definitely Martin Strayer. He was the one that really saw some talent in me. He’s the one who helped discover me and got me connected with the Dixie Chicks and really helped my career blossom in that period of time. I owe a lot to him. Also everybody locally here. I recorded with a producer, Jay Vega, who was super instrumental. Everybody that worked around me, I can’t thank them enough for believing in me and pushing me.

PC: What do you hope to say with this next body of work?
Josh: There’s going to be a lot of change in the way that I write, and already I see that what I’ve been listening to and what I’m influenced by has changed drastically even from last year. I’ve always had a passion for being an acoustic singer-songwriter, and that side of me won’t change. But I think it’ll be interesting because with all the music prior to this, I cared so much about what other people thought when I put it out and I would make changes to make it sound more poppy and commercial. So I’m really excited for this album because I honestly don’t care. That’s the best thing for a musician. If you put out what you love and you think it sounds good, it’s going to be received so much better than if you try to fit into this mold that you think other people like. I think this will be my best work yet.

To keep up with Josh, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Listen or watch Who Wears the Pants here.

Photo Credit: Dan Landoni