Texas Artist Josh Ward Celebrates Top 40 Breakout, ‘The Devil Don’t Scare Me’

In an era when a number of singers brag about how “country” they are across nation’s radio waves, Texan Josh Ward is a refreshing change of pace. The former rodeo cowboy simply has to sing a few notes with his ace band twanging away behind him for the listener to unmistakably grasp the fact that he’s as country as they come. He doesn’t have to tell you. He just is.

In Texas, Ward is an established star of the Lone Star State’s vibrant independent country music scene. Along with playing upwards of 200 concerts a year in and around Texas, Ward has seen a number of his songs reach the top of the radio charts that tracks airplay and streams throughout Texas. And speaking of streams, his songs have been played many millions of times between Spotify and YouTube. It’s an impressive feat for an artist still developing his audience in the farther reaches of the United States.

Over the summer, Ward celebrated his first national Top 40 single with “The Devil Don’t Scare Me” and even became the latest artist to release an edition of the storied Live at Billy Bob’s series. For fans of other Texas-sized breakthrough successes Cody Johnson and Aaron Watson will hear plenty to adore in Ward’s true-blue honky-tonk material. We recently caught up with him on a Monday morning after coming home from a tour swing through Florida to discuss his beginnings as an artist on the rodeo circuit, the allure of the World’s Largest Honky-Tonk and just how awesome ‘90s country music is.

So, Monday mornings are probably pretty laid back for you, aren’t they?

We got back home late last night, so right now I’m in the middle of doing some laundry [laughing]. You know, it’s just a bunch of glamorous stuff like that I’ve got to get done before we get back on the bus and back on the road Wednesday. It’s a pretty crazy schedule, but it’s become normal to me.

You’ve had a lot of success with your songs on Texas radio, but having a song reach the national Top 40 has got to be a different type of big deal doesn’t it?

That is something special, man. I can see how well the song is doing whenever we play in a new town, away from Texas, and there are more people singing your song back to you than you thought there would be. I also appreciate the radio stations outside of Texas that play my music. They don’t have to take a gamble on me. We’ve had such great luck in Texas, and I’ve got the most loyal fans a guy could ever ask for. It takes an army or a village or something like that to make these things work.

Before you started music full time, you were a rodeo cowboy that would play your songs for small groups. That’s similar to how Chris LeDoux got started.

Yeah, my first audiences were my hauling partners. They were the ones riding down the road with me as I was learning how to do this music thing. I had learned to play guitar in the eighth grade and there was always a song around. My great-grandmother loved gospel and all my uncles’ listened to Merle Haggard and George Jones. I sang in my church choir when I was four years-old, even.

So eventually, I started picking on tailgates whenever there was a break during a rodeo I was in, or if I was in the backseat when we were driving down the road. Now I got to go and perform at these big rodeos! I get to play at the NFR this year, which is a big feather in my cap.

You just released the fiftieth Live at Billy Bob’s album, joining an impressive list of legends like Merle Haggard. What do people from outside of Texas need to know about why Billy Bob’s is so special?

We were just in Florida and I mentioned how proud of the Billy Bob’s record I am, and people went crazy when I mentioned Billy Bob’s. They want to come see it for themselves. I’ve been going to Billy Bob’s for a long time. I used to buck bulls there in the back. As a young man, around 18, when I went for the first time it was like walking into Wal-Mart, a circus, a beer joint and a rodeo all at the same time. I tell people all the time you have got to see it to believe it. It’s the honky-tonk Ryman [Auditorium], the Texas Ryman. That stage has held some real greats, so for me to be a part of that history is really something else. I would’ve never dreamed this in a million years.

Your music has a sort of throwback, almost retro feel to it, but more in a ‘90s country way instead of a ‘70s outlaw country sort of manner. Is that something you go for in the studio?

For me, I kind of lean into what my skills were honed on. I was raised on Haggard and jones, but also Strait, Chesnutt, Byrd and Chris LeDoux. That’s what I listened to when my cousins were listening to Metallica and Cinderella and hair metal. I’m proud to think I have a ‘90s-esque vibe going on. That’s when things were good. That was real heyday stuff.

I don’t try to make my music sound that way, though. That’s just the way it comes out because of my influences. When I hear a demo, I think to myself, ‘who would sing this? I bet Mark Chesnutt would sing the hell out of this.” By the time I get in the studio, I already have an idea on how I want the recording to sound. It just kind of happens.