It was only a little over a year ago that Josiah Queen was working as a janitor at the church he grew up in. At the time, the aspiring musician was engaged and wondering how he was going to support his future wife. That’s when he wrote a handful of songs with a storytelling bent, including one called “Fishes and Loaves.” And like the little boy in the Bible who gave his meager lunch to Jesus, Queen offered up his fledgling originals. “I was like, ‘God, I only have these songs. And I’m getting married. I’m trusting that this is the time You told me to do this,’” he says. “And as soon as I took that step forward in faith, literally, God opened up all these opportunities.” Those opportunities have looked like sold-out shows, a chart-topping album and a hit song in “The Prodigal,” which earned Queen a K-LOVE Fan Award nod for Breakout Single of the Year and a pair of Dove Award nominations in the categories of New Artist of the Year and Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year.
Ahead of his second run of headlining shows — poised to hit the West Coast this fall — Queen chatted with KLOVE.com via Zoom from his home in Florida to share his feelings on the biggest year of his life thus far. We’re letting you in on the call in this exclusive K-LOVE Conversations Q&A as the newcomer opens up about his love for artists ranging from Rend Collective to Noah Kahan, what he learned touring with Forrest Frank and which character in the Prodigal Son story he identifies with most.
K-LOVE: What was it like growing up as a pastor’s kid?
Josiah Queen: I love the community at my local church I grew up in. That’s how I started doing music, playing in the worship band. I love it here, because there’s just so many good people that I grew up with, and they support my music. Honestly, to them, I’m still Josiah, the guy who plays on the worship team and stuff. I was born in Clearwater, Florida, but I’ve lived my whole life in a city called New Port Richey, Florida. My parents are still pastors at our church. So me and my wife, we still live here, and I don’t think I’ll ever leave.
K-LOVE: Your sound is so distinct — this mixture of folk, Americana and worship. Who are some of the artists that have influenced the music you’re making?
Josiah Queen: I grew up listening to only Christian music — a lot of congregational worship music. UNITED; Phil Wickham was one of my favorite songwriters, and guys like that. My favorite band was Rend Collective. I went to a bunch of their concerts growing up. I love the banjo and instruments like that; but then in the last three-ish years, I started listening to different music to get inspiration. Definitely Zach Bryan got me into the acoustic stuff…and then a guy named Noah Kahan. There’s this band called Caamp I really like. I like Mumford & Sons. I really found myself liking folk/country music. But mostly, I just love those instruments and, I don’t know, the energy that comes in a lot of that music, but also just how real a lot of their music is.
K-LOVE: Artists like Zach Bryan and Noah Kahan are wildly popular in mainstream music right now, but their sound hasn’t been something that’s been very prevalent in Christian music, with a few exceptions…until now. Did you set out to introduce this fresh sound to Christian music, or were you even thinking about what you were uniquely bringing to the table when you were making “The Prodigal”?
Josiah Queen: For a while, I was just copying everybody else and what they were doing, and it wasn’t working. I really started with Zach Bryan. I think people loved him so much because of the emotion and what he was saying and how he sang it. There’s things in the Bible that really impact me when I read it, and so I was like, “Man, what if there’s a way that I could sing songs where people feel that emotion?” There’s these [Bible] stories that we’ve heard a million times, but I wanted to bring it about in a way where you hear it, and then at the end of it you get something out of it you have never gotten out of it before. So yeah, I’m definitely trying to do a little bit of the different thing, but honestly, I think it was just all kind of God piecing everything together at the right time. I would like to say it was intentional, where I was like, “Man, yeah, if I go for this certain sound, all the young people will love it, and it’ll blow up.” But it just was kind of unintentional. I’ve always liked banjos. I’ve owned a banjo since I was 12. I love writing on my guitar, and so it came naturally. It made sense. I was just making music that I loved, and people started relating to it.
K-LOVE: Your first radio single, “The Prodigal,” is based on the biblical parable about the Prodigal Son. Which character in the story do you identify with most?
Josiah Queen: When I wrote the song, I showed my mom, and at first she’s like, “You never were a Prodigal Son. Why are you singing a song called ‘The Prodigal’?” As I grew up, I never really ran away from church and what I believed in and that type of thing. But I think everybody in their life, no matter how you grew up, experiences trying to find satisfaction in the world. We always hear the story of the Prodigal Son and think of somebody who believed in Jesus but then ran away and eventually came back home to his family and his faith. When I read the story, I read about a guy who knew right from wrong, yet he still went and tried to find satisfaction in the world. And I really related to him, specifically, because I just feel like everybody can relate with the feeling of trying to find some type of satisfaction or joy in these things in the world that are kind of fleeting and just die out and wither away with time.
K-LOVE: You’re such an introspective writer. How did you start writing songs?
Josiah Queen: My first instrument was piano. I would sit and open up the Psalms, and I would kind of just start singing those and making up songs, ripping off the Psalms. That’s how I started working with melodies, starting at one Psalm and going all the way through during the summer with just the same four chords.
K-LOVE: Sitting at that piano, did you dream of becoming a professional musician one day?
Josiah Queen: I always wanted to be a worship leader. For a while, I just kind of wanted to do worship music. My dream was to have songs that were played in church. And I still have that dream a little bit. I’ve seen some people play “The Prodigal” at church. So yeah, it switched over a little bit more to doing this type of music. Honestly, if I could just stay here in Florida, make music that reaches people, go to my church and help lead worship, that’s my dream. So as long as that happens, then we’re all good.
K-LOVE: Now that you’ve been given this larger platform outside your local church, what would you like to see happen?
Josiah Queen: I think my biggest desire, and my wife’s biggest desire, is to see people’s lives changed for Jesus. I don’t know if you’ve seen videos of what’s happening on college campuses and stuff recently, but my goal, my dream, is just to see that happen all over the country, people being impacted by Jesus. And if that’s through my music or not, I just want to be a part of that. I want to be a part of changing people’s lives, bringing them Jesus, and bringing the Gospel to them. I mean, all over the world. That’d be my dream.
K-LOVE: You got the chance to tour with Forrest Frank, who’s also an up-and-comer in our genre. What was that experience like, and what did you learn from being out on the road with him?
Josiah Queen: Oh yeah. I mean, he is a great guy. He asked me to come out, and it was a no-brainer for me. I think he’s another artist in our field who is bringing out people who are in the same demographic that’s coming out to my concerts. And he’s impacting a lot of people. Honestly, what he’s doing as far as being on social media and stuff is big. He has a lot of touring experience, too. When we did our first tour, I’d never toured before. So I think it was definitely super good for me and my whole team to go out on the road and just see how it’s done, because things have just grown so fast. I was doing pop-up shows for free a little over a year ago for 50, 60 people, and now I’m trying to get into it where it’s a little more professional. So going out with Forrest has just been a huge learning opportunity, seeing how things kind of operate and then taking notes on that.
K-LOVE: Does your wife get to travel with you?
Josiah Queen: She goes everywhere with me. She has a Companion Pass on Southwest, we’ve flown so much. And on tour, she actually brings the Gospel halfway through the set. I’ll do half my set, and then she’ll come out, and she preaches the Gospel for 10 minutes. It’s awesome being able to do it with her. We dated long distance — she lived in Iowa, and I lived in Florida — for three-and-a-half years, and we always talked about doing this. She dreamed of preaching; I always dreamed of doing music. God has opened up our lives here. She’s 20, I’m 21, and we’re going around the country and we’re seeing people saved. She gets to preach, and I get to do music; it’s like everything we always dreamed about.
K-LOVE: How did you and your wife originally meet?
Josiah Queen: I started leading worship when I was 13, and at our church, my mom and I had this ministry. It was a traveling ministry, and the idea was just that we’d go to different churches and she would teach on evangelism and on prayer. And I would go and play music and lead worship for those weekends. It was a free thing. Whenever a church would open up their doors, we’d raise our own money and go. Long story short, my wife’s parents are pastors in Iowa, and they invited us to come, and that’s how I met her. I was 17. She was 15 or 16, or something like that. We started writing letters, and then I visited. But yeah, it was through a ministry thing I did with my mom growing up, and I met her there.
K-LOVE: What do you hope people take away from your music?
Josiah Queen: I just hope that they understand Jesus a little bit more, or that they feel closer to God. I hope that with the message I put in my songs that it reaches people and draws them closer to the heart of the Father. Really, the line in “The Prodigal” is kind of my heart for all my music: “I don’t want to lose my soul chasing after things that don’t lead me straight to You.”
K-LOVE: How do you feel going into the Dove Awards in October where you’re nominated in two categories? Are award shows exciting or scary for you?
Josiah Queen: I mean, I have a hard time picking out my outfits for those type of things. You know what I mean? I’m pretty casual. I live in Florida. I wear basketball shorts. My wife helps me out with that. So my first thought was like, “I need help. I need help picking out clothes.” But also on a serious note, it’s a very big honor. I have to remind myself, a short while ago, I would do anything just to live my dream and make music. And I’m here, and I’m meeting all these guys I looked up to my whole life. So I think for me, it’s just a monument for how good God’s been in my life. Just like, if you give everything to Jesus and you follow His will for your life… It’s one of those pinch-me moments. Yeah.
