Josh Abbott Talks About His Health, Upcoming Album, Music Videos + More

The Josh Abbott Band will be kicking off the Taste of Country Concert Series May 30th at the Lucky Mule. As Abilene prepares for another great JAB concert, Josh took some time to visit with the KEAN 105 Afternoon Show and let us know what's going on with him.

The first part of our conversation with Josh Abbott gave an update on what he's been up to lately. He tells us, "Right now we're just touring, really. We're not really promoting anything specific. We did just get done recording a new album...I say 'got done', we're actually not even finished with it. We've recorded 11 songs for the next album, and I'd like to record about 15 or 16. So we'll go back into the studio and do more. And, so anyway, we're just kind of in the process of finishing up the album, figuring out some timelines for release dates and things like that, but mostly trying to have a great time this summer...just enjoying life, honestly. I think that's what the band is just loving doing right now. We're not overwhelmingly busy with, like, radio tours and all sorts of promo stuff. We're playing a lot of really fun gigs...I think our goal is just to smile, enjoy the sunshine, get healthy and eat right, and just live life."

In a time where it's hard to get an album with more than 10 songs on it, I asked Josh about his decision to include up to 16 on his next record. He tells us, "You know who's good about [having a lot of songs on their albums]? Miranda Lambert. When she releases an album, she's always putting like 14, 15, 16 songs on there. And I read the other day that her new album that's coming out soon has 16 songs on there." Abbott goes on to explain, "You still have to cut songs...Choosing the songs is still gonna be hard. I think putting out that many songs is just good for the fans. You know the reason most people don't [have more than 10 songs on an album] anymore - just kinda shooting the...the uh...well, I guess I can't say that word on the radio, but shooting the crap here - most bands don't record that many songs because it just costs more, and you can't charge more [for your album, just because it has more songs on it]." That makes sense.

Abbott confessed that 2014 didn't get off to the start he wanted, but he's managed to make some changes. He said, "I went through a really hard time the first, probably 3-and-a-half months of this year with some personal stuff that I kinda brought on myself, and had some problems in life. I decided to correct those problems. And through me getting healthier mentally and physically, and everything, it just seems like that kinda transferred over to some of the guys in the band. And so now we show up in towns, and there's 3 or 4 of us that can work out together, and we try to eat right. I mean, it's just great man. You only get one time around on this earth, and there's no reason not to live it as happy and healthy as you can."

Take a listen to the first part of my conversation with Josh Abbott here:

Josh Abbott Interview - Part 1

We ran out of time to talk on the air with Josh Abbott, but I had one more subject that I wanted him to comment on, and that's his music videos. If you've watched JAB's music videos, you know that they are some of the most well-done, thought provoking videos in country music, and I asked Josh if making them is something within his comfort zone. He says, "Well, you know, my thing for music videos is, I want to take the lyrics and deconstruct them a little bit in terms of what I meant when I wrote the song. Then I want to reexamine what those lyrics could possibly mean. Like, there's something else here that I'm trying to say.". Josh details examples with his 'Oh Tonight' and 'Touch' videos. He also talked about 'She Will Be Free' a video that Abbott calls, in all honesty, "the best country music video last year...it didn't get the recognition it deserved, and that's a shame.". I agree 100%. Take a listen to the web-only portion of my conversation with Josh Abbott: