Joshua Davis ‘coming home’ to Grand Rapids, riding ‘amazing’ wave of national exposure from ‘The Voice’

Friday’s Fountain Street Church concert is one of several high-profile homecoming shows Davis and his band are playing this summer, with a new Davis recording in the offing and solo tours outside Michigan.

THE ARTIST: Joshua Davis
WHAT HE PLAYS: Folk, roots music, Americana
WHERE YOU CAN SEE HIM: 8 p.m. Friday with the Joshua Davis Quintet at Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids (tickets $15-$25); Davis also performs on-air at 11 a.m. Friday on WYCE-FM (88.1)

 

Joshua Davis is coming home.

Of course, for a singer-songwriter who’s lived in the Upper Peninsula, Detroit, Lansing and Traverse City – and who’s played regularly in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and just about every corner of the state – that amounts to a lot of “homecoming” shows for “a lot of great friends.”

The Earthwork Music artist has enjoyed a hero’s welcome at the Michigan concerts he’s scheduled this summer since finishing third on NBC’s popular singing competition, “The Voice” – dramatic evidence of the fan support that helped fuel his successful run on the TV show.

“The only way I survive is by the support of our community. To see the community support me and allow me to take it to the next level has been really gratifying. I’m really honored to be representing Michigan,” said Davis, 37, who plays Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids with his quintet on Friday after shows earlier in the week at Lansing’s Common Ground Festival, Kalamazoo’s Bell’s Brewery and Ferndale’s Magic Bag.

“A lot of these feel like hometown shows because I’ve been around the state so much the past 15 years – Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Lansing. A lot of these feel like I’m coming back to venues I’ve played before and coming home.”

ENTERTAINING LARGE CROWDS IN HIGH-PROFILE MICHIGAN SHOWS

Already, Davis has played for mammoth crowds at Ann Arbor’s Sonic Lunch and East Lansing’s Wharton Center, selling thousands of tickets the first day of sales for the latter. The same rush for tickets was repeated for his Aug. 13 concert at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Get tickets for the Fountain Street Church show online here.

“Totally amazing. Everybody was on their game,” he said of his Michigan shows thus far, noting he’s particularly excited about playing Fountain Street Church with bandmates Dominic John Davis (bass), Geoff Lewis (drums), Mike Lynch (keyboards) and Brad Phillips (violin, mandolin).

“It really is a special place and it’s got such an incredible legacy in terms of music and social activism. It was a central location in the civil rights movement. It’s a space that so many great artists have played and it’s a beautiful space.”

Davis and his bandmates also will make a radio appearance at 11 a.m. Friday on Local Spins on WYCE. Tune to 88.1 FM or listen online at wyce.org to listen to the interview and in-studio performance.

Clearly, Davis is riding the wave of national exposure he received via “The Voice,” with ticketed concerts at major venues, bigger paydays and renewed confidence in what’s already been a solid music career.

“Getting national exposure is amazing. There is part of it that’s a wave. There’s a huge surge of attention and interest, and the goal is to do as much as I can to keep those fires stoked, and do what I do with the integrity that I’ve done it with for years, and keep people engaged, and use that momentum as best I can on the wonderful things we’ve got going in Michigan and the roots music scene,” he said.

GOING BACK INTO THE RECORDING STUDIO IN SEPTEMBER

Keeping that momentum going means getting back into the recording studio with some new songs in early September. Davis said he’ll lay down tracks at Glenn Brown’s GBP Studios in East Lansing, though he’s not yet sure whether he’ll issue a new EP or a full-length album.

It also means traveling outside Michigan for a “trial run” this fall to “do a bunch of solo shows. I plan to fly out and hit different markets for three or four days at a time … to get a feel for the markets.”

“I’m not sure what it’s going to look like five years down the road, but right now, I’m working hard, and in the fall, most of my stuff will be out of state and hitting other parts of the country. Hopefully, people will get to know me as an artist outside ‘The Voice’ and like what they hear.”

That excites Davis because unlike “The Voice” – where he almost exclusively sang other artist’s songs – he’s getting an opportunity to showcase his own music.

“That’s what I do. The show was incredible, but I’m a songwriter. ‘The Voice’ taught me how to be a better performer and be a better singer. To use the tools I learned there with my own music is really exciting,” said Davis, adding he’s stayed in touch “on and off” with “The Voice” winner Sawyer Fredericks, who’s been working with other songwriters in Los Angeles on new material.

For Friday’s concert, the Joshua Davis Quintet will perform “a lot of acoustic-driven stuff with an accordion, acoustic guitar and bass” and feature some songs from Davis’ work with the Michigan band Steppin’ In It.

“We’re going to be playing a bunch of different stuff,” said Davis, who’s released three solo albums over the years, as well as several recordings with Steppin’ In It. “I’ll bring back some tunes I haven’t played in a while.”

Davis, who also plays Hoxeyville Music Festival in mid-August, says the summer series of high-profile Michigan concerts is just the beginning of the next phase of his career. But the father of two also has other priorities.

“I have to work my tail off to keep it going and make sure people hear what I’m doing,” he said. “But I also love my family and that’s the No. 1 most important thing to me. It’s important that I’m not on the road all the time and not try to play huge auditoriums all the time. I want to play more intimate shows and have people get to know me.”

Read more Local Spins stories about Davis’ run on ‘The Voice.’

VIDEO: Joshua Davis, “I Shall Be Released”

Copyright 2015, Spins on Music LLC