THE STORY
In the desolate winter of 2020, as the pandemic raged and stages went dark, Joshua Thomas took a cold, critical look at what he’d accomplished and what he hadn’t over the past twelve years. The endless grind of recording, writing, and touring had long ago lost its allure, leading Thomas to the painful decision to step away from music.

Four years later, the recording and release of Thomas’s debut LP, The Wings Outside, was as unforeseen as the pandemic itself.

Thomas now resides in Los Angeles, but spent much of the last decade in Portland, Oregon, where he frequently toured up and down the coast, sharing the stage with artists like Adrianne Lenker, Lucy Wainwright Roche, and Buck Meek. Since 2014, he has released two EPs and numerous singles, garnering praise for his commanding vocals and intimate, moving performances. Joni Mitchell once commended Thomas on his abilities when he was just starting out - an experience that he cites as hugely impactful in deciding to pursue a career in music.

But by 2023, three years had passed since Thomas had last performed on a stage and, subtly, the urge to get back out there was biting at his heels. Scrolling Instagram one frigid December day, he stumbled upon a notice for a songwriter’s workshop led by Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler of the Americana duo Over the Rhine. Thomas had been heavily influenced by the band in his earliest songwriting days, so the prospect of spending uninterrupted creative time with a couple of his musical heroes led him to take an uncomfortable leap and head to the duo’s farm east of Cincinnati.

On the first day of the workshop, Thomas sat at the piano and performed “The Question,” which would eventually serve as the opening track of The Wings Outside. As the final note resounded, he turned to see Bergquist and Detweiler welling up with tears. He knew that he’d struck something in them and by the end of that weekend, plans were being made to record Thomas’ debut LP in the restored Civil War-era barn at their farm, lovingly called Nowhere Else.

“Sometimes you meet people and you think, ‘We might just be walking along the same path,’ recalls Bergquist. “And he was one of those people. Instantly, I knew I could just reach my hand across the path, grab his, and know that we were gonna be fine. He’s one of those artists with a signal that is so true.”

THE ALBUM
Thomas enlisted Bergquist and Detweiler as producers - the first time they’ve assumed that role outside of their own work - and brought in Ryan Freeland to engineer and mix the project. “It’s so fucking good,” says Freeland, a veteran of the industry with six Grammy Awards to his name. Recording took place over three days in May 2023 and features seasoned players like Jay Bellerose, Jennifer Condos, Patrick Warren, and Meg Duffy.

Bellerose and Condos back Thomas on three tracks, as does Meg Duffy (known professionally as Hand Habits). Duffy’s distinctive guitar work is most notable on “One of a Kind,” a track that is subtly anthemic; a paean to resilience and self-assurance as the chorus rings out: “I’m fine, I am holy, I’m difficult, and I’m one of a kind.”

Thematically, The Wings Outside covers a lot of ground and asks complicated questions about intimacy, commitment, self-preservation, and the divided world we all inhabit. On the two-minute track “A Common Lullaby,” (the lone tune in which Thomas is completely solo on guitar and vocals) Thomas dissects the modern fallacy of marriage - “Tradition falls for the safety of a lie” - and the complexity of maintaining a long-term relationship without signing on the dotted line. On the penultimate track, “Imposter,” powerfully backed by Bellerose, Condos, and Denzel Mendoza on trombone, Thomas sings candidly about trying to fit a mold and coming up short.

But at its core, The Wings Outside is a record about escape. The host of characters that Thomas has sketched over eleven tracks - Teddy, Darlene, Leigh, Janet, and a few unnamed - all seem to be running away from something; or at least making an attempt at it. And it’s hard not to place Thomas, himself, in the crew of escapees, knowing that he, too, ran away; from the industry, life on the road, and the stage.

As the record winds down, Thomas settles into a lush Harry Nilsson-esque closer, “Trouble Wired.” Patrick Warren, known for his work with Fiona Apple and as a composer for films like Magnolia and Boogie Nights, scored the strings and created a landscape so captivating you may not notice upon first listen that it’s a song about getting off this earth before it turns to flame.

Thomas made two previous attempts at recording a full-length album in 2016 and 2019, respectively, but he never released them. “It took me a long time to get to a point where I was truly proud of the work I was creating. And this record is it. It’s the most honest thing I’ve ever done.” 

He reasons that this batch of songs is so deeply sincere because they were written without expectation. “I wrote them when I’d already left the industry,” says Thomas. “I wasn’t trying to please anybody or conform to some indie-rock popular sound. I’m an Americana artist, through and through. It took a champion - in my case, two of them - to reinforce that.” Thomas wants to make it clear that this record was never supposed to happen - he had begun to settle into a new kind of life before Bergquist and Detweiler entered his sphere.

“I always believed in myself, but I just couldn’t cut through the noise,” says Thomas. “I still don’t know if I can cut through it and find a place for these songs to land. But I have a renewed sense of purpose now and I owe it to myself and to these incredible collaborators who brought me back to life to give it a solid try.”