Josh Ward Talks Award Nominations, Small Town Bars + More During Visit to Abilene

Josh Ward has been in music since age 4, and fronting his own band for the past ten years. Having seen success on the Texas radio charts from his CD 'Promises' and two major Texas awards nominations in the past year, Ward is now looking to spread the word about his music to the west side of the Lone Star State. With a new single, 'Sent Me You' poised to make a run of its own on the charts, the Montgomery, Texas-based singer/songwriter saw the perfect opportunity to pay us a visit on the KEAN 105 Afternoon Show.

The first part of the interview, Josh talked about his first ever award nominations (he received two Texas Regional Radio Music awards). He tells us, "This is the first time getting that kind of recognition, I mean it';s cool to be nominated Male Vocalist of the Year, and 'Top Single' and stuff like that. I would have never thought in a million years I'd be sitting here doing [a radio interview] right now, much less getting an award for a song. I'm very grateful, man, just to be on the scene and getting to do what I love for a living, you know." Here's part one of our conversation:

Part two of our interview with Josh Ward included an acoustic performance of his previous single, 'Rainout Hangout'. He explains that "It's a song myself, and Jody Booth and John Slaughter, we all got together with...we do a lot of co-writing together. There's a place down, a little south of me. There was a bar down there called the Rainout Hangout...rough place...I remember driving home, sitting on telephone books because I was too short to see over the steering wheel, because my cousins, you know, they got drunk and I had to drive them home one night." Ward went on to explain, "I got with the guys, and said 'I want to write a song paying homage to the old honky tonks and stuff that we cut our teeth on'. So we got into the studio and it was [snaps fingers] like that, because we all knew where we came from.". Take a listen to part 2 of the conversation, an Josh's performance of 'Rainout Hangout'.

The final part of our our conversation included Ward telling us "I started playing with a swing band, they were called 'Southern Breeze' back in the day and they were like a bunch of dads to me. They were older gentlemen and they played Merle Haggard and George Jones, you know, all the greats and stuff. That's what I cut my teeth on. So I got in with them and started playing a few shows, and it was like a couple months later they were like 'Alright kid, you gotta go. Go get your own'. So, they kicked me out of the nest, but I still talk to them, man, I mean, some of my best friends in the world.". Josh also explains how he begrudgingly took to social media, but now embraces it. Here's the final part of our interview with Josh Ward.

Look to see where Josh is playing, and get all the latest information from his official website, also his band's Facebook page and on Twitter. Stay in touch with Ward for regular updates, as long as he can keep his phone out of the lake.