Meet Joshua Ketchmark

We were lucky to catch up with Joshua Ketchmark recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Joshua , we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

Developing my confidence and self-esteem has been a long road that I’ve struggled with for years. Growing up, I felt like I wasn’t good enough to do much of anything I did, except for one. I started drawing around the age of two. My parents called it talent. It was something I really enjoyed to do. Looking back on it I was always drawing something, I became dedicated to it and it was something I was good at. I never saw it as putting in the work. Raised catholic, I remember hearing that God gives everybody one special talent and that art was mine.
Fast forward into becoming a teenager and discovering music, not knowing that it would start a thread that would carry me through my life. I found Queen (The Game on 8-track), and a Beatles (Meet the Beatles! on vinyl) record in my parents record collection; between those two and the radio I was in love with music.
I did and still do, see it as creating art. When I started learning to play guitar and sing, no one thought it was a good idea except for me. Just starting out, I was terrible at all of it but determined. It’s easy to see now how much time I spent as a kid drawing and developing that skill. I was naive enough to think I could run before I could walk. I made every mistake I could make and I did it for years before I started to learn from them. It was more fuel for the fire that everyone around me used to call what I was doing a phase and not take me seriously. My mother hung onto hope that I would come back to drawing and painting. Being told by other members of my family that I was wasting my time, that I should pursue a career in art instead of music. As an angsty rebellious teenager, it was all I needed. I made up my mind right then that sink or swim, music was what I was going to do.
My world changed when I started writing my own songs. Writing a song is a passion of mine and always has been.
I could go on and on but to answer your question: I didn’t start to build my confidence and self-esteem until I moved to Los Angeles. It was a couple of years trying to find my feet in more sink or swim situations than I can remember.
I had to learn quick. The difference between my time in California and what my life was before then? I had fallen into a great group of people that believed anything was possible. I had a moment driving down Sunset Boulevard where I came to the realization that all of the mistakes I had made for all of those years were worth it. They all played a part in getting me to where I was. A weight lifted off me and I started to see the world differently.
Music in Los Angeles was an up hill climb, but I was rising, and releasing my first solo record in 2008 (List Of Regrets) was a huge challenge for me. I’ve learned so much and I’ve gotten to work with many talented people over the years. Making the decision to pursue music brought everything that I have now into my life. In 2022, I released my 10th solo album titled BLOOD and it became the best received release to date. Hopefully, somewhere in all this rambling you can see the point I’m making. With that said, I still wrestle with my self-esteem from time to time and the ever changing climate of the music industry, but I’m confident, I am right where I should be, doing what I love to do.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Hello, my name is Joshua Ketchmark. I’m a songwriter living in Nashville, TN. I grew up in a small town in the midwest before moving south to Nashville, and then relocating to Los Angeles. I love music and movies, I love dogs, one of my favorite places to spend an afternoon is Jackson Square in New Orleans. Seeing the movie JAWS as kid made sure that I don’t go in any body of water that I can’t see the bottom of.
I write songs—songs are special to me. Growing up listening to the radio, songs became and still are a marker for memories through out my life. My hope is that I can write songs that speak to someone else the way that other people’s songs have spoken to me. I’ve always said that I’m about ten years late to the party, though moving to Nashville when I was younger was a great opportunity early on to learn about songwriting and to understand that there is a craft to songwriting.
My real musical education started when I first got to California. The bands I that I had the chance to join became great learning experiences. Trying to get established in Los Angeles, I took any job I could get. I fell into working as a guitar tech in some really great recording studios in the LA area with Grammy award winning producers and some very famous artists. Everyday I went in, class was in session and I was getting schooled.
I finally got to put all of that to use in 2006-07 producing and recording my first solo album, and now that I have relocated to Nashville once again in the last couple years. I’ve leaned on that recording experience to help other artists. My studio, Black Gold Speakeasy is where the magic happens now, collaborating with artists and songwriters has been so rewarding.
At the moment I’m finishing up the pre-production demos to start production on my next solo album titled HELLHOUNDS and assembling my dream team, nailing down schedules to get into the studio, and start recording basic tracks before I bring it back to my studio to finish it up and mix it. To say that I’m excited to get this party started is an understatement. After releasing solo albums for the past 16 years I can honestly say that I’ll never stop. Regardless of who hears it, it is the way I make sense out of life.
As I said previously, I love to work with other artists and I love to co-write. It’s inspiring to create and help complete something that inspires someone else. It is a full circle moment.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

As far as giving advice, I’m not someone that hands it out.

Everyone has their own journey that they’re on and it’s important to remember that. Getting from one point to another is different for everyone. Sure, people have similar experiences but one size doesn’t fit all. You’ll make more mistakes trying to walk in someone else’s shoes, then your own.

Remember that being yourself is your super power. There is only one you. And no, I’m not trying to sound like a therapist but it’s something that I have to remind myself at times. Yes, the unknown can be a scary place or it can be an endless well of possibilities. It’s all in how you look at it.

The most impactful realization for me is that there isn’t one side to a story. Everyone’s got their own version of how they see it, their own version of how they see themselves and how they see you. Don’t try to control the things you can’t.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

I would say the number one obstacle or challenge that I face is navigating a degree of success so that I can keep the lights on, but still stay flying somewhat under the radar. I have worked with artists that are so famous that they have a hard time leaving the house. I’ve gotten to see that first hand. Seeing that up close was very eye opening. It’s not something that I aspire to. Was there a time that I did? Sure.
My last record BLOOD (2022) was well received, the reviews were all very complementary, and 8 of the 12 videos released for the record reached more people than any of my other videos ever had. It was first time that I really felt like promoting that release became a machine, or maybe more accurately, a monster. As an independent solo artist, I do a lot of this myself, writing the songs, producing and engineering majority of the tracks. I shoot the videos and all of my promo pictures (the self-timer has become my best friend), I edit, etc.. you get the picture, I’ve realized that I thrive on being that hands on, even when hiring someone to play or do what I can’t.
That said, you have to have some degree of success for other people to want to work with you, or to open doors that you want to see the other side of. I like to be the whisper in the hall. I leave the shouting from the mountain tops to my friends.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

List Of Regrets : Lucian Capellaro (album cover IMG_1877) / Henson Studios : Jessica Rodrigue (IMG_7358) / Hotel Cafe : Frances Lacuzzi Photography (Live shot Photo May 19 2019, 8 29 46 PM (1))

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