Josh Kaufman | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | Joshua David Kaufman (1978-05-26)May 26, 1978 (age 47) Paterson, NJ |
| Occupation(s) | Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, arranger, producer |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, baritone guitar, pedal steel, electric mandolin, tenor banjo, bass, keyboards, drums |
Josh Kaufman (born May 26, 1978) is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, composer, arranger and engineer based in Brooklyn, New York. He is a member of the collaborative ensemblesMuzz andBonny Light Horseman. He was previously a member of the band Down Home Souls.
Kaufman began playing in high school garage bands in New York. Largely self-taught, he decided to take music theory lessons in his senior year at high school in preparation for studying music atThird Level. After graduating, Kaufman enrolled in theState University of New York (SUNY) inNew Paltz, NY. There, he worked at The Main Street Bistro as well as Jack's Rhythms record store, and frequently made visits down toNew York City. During this time, Kaufman was playing in bands such as Pooja and Follow The Lieder, as well as making recordings with long-time partner (and now wife)Annie Nero.
Kaufman moved toBrooklyn after university and worked asbarista while playing in various musical projects performing originals and covers. He reunited with Paul Banks for an acoustic duo just asInterpol were gaining popularity and thegarage rock revival was emerging. Meanwhile, Kaufman's friendship with the songwriter Benji Cossa resulted in a stint working at aSoHo printing press.[1] This brought him a steady income while allowing flexibility for the growing amount of touring, production and arranging work that he was doing for artists such asDawn Landes,Josh Ritter andThe National.
Kaufman became asideman for Dawn Landes and toured regularly across the US and Europe with the singer-songwriter.[2] Kaufman befriended Landes’ then-husbandJosh Ritter and the pair began collaborating, culminating in Kaufman producing and playing most of the instrumentation on Ritter'sBringing In The Darlings EP in 2012.[3] Kaufman would also contribute guitar, electric guitar, bass, percussion and vocals as part of Ritter's core studio team for his 2013 LPThe Beast In Its Tracks[4] and become a lynchpin of Ritter's live backing group, the Royal City Band.[5]
While gigging around New York in venues such asThe Living Room and theKnitting Factory, Kaufman metBryan Devendorf ofThe National who were fans of Kaufman's band Follow The Lieder. As well as assisting with the recording ofBoxer, in March 2012 Kaufman was invited by the band to act as musical director for a one-off ensemble performance withGrateful Dead founderBob Weir and a host of big names from the US indie scene (includingWalt Martin ofThe Walkmen andThomas Bartlett under the title "The Bridge Session".[6]
In August of that year, Kaufman was invited to be part of a tribute concert led by Weir entitled “Move Me Brightly: Celebrating Jerry Garcia's 70th Birthday”.[7] The performance took place atTRI Studios inSan Rafael, California and was filmed for release as a music documentary entitledMove Me Brightly.[8]
We had a new band every day, and Josh Kaufman was the magical factor that would put the glue in the groove. He knew these guys, he knew what to expect, he knew they were gonna work, he knew they were gonna plug in. And each day in the studio was a different deal: 'OK, we’re gonna do this song and this song, and these are the guys we’re plugging in and we’ll just see what happens.' He’s a real good puppet master and, at the same time, he’s dancing on the end of the strings on some songs. It worked out real well for us and, generally speaking, that got the job done.
Subsequent to this outing, Kaufman was brought in to co-produceDay Of The Dead, an elaborate Grateful Dead charity tribute album withBryce andAaron Dessner.[10] Released in May 2016, the 59-track compilation was recorded over four years and featured a host of big names reinterpreting the Grateful Dead songbook, includingWilco,The War on Drugs,The National,Bonnie “Prince” Billy (Will Oldham),Jenny Lewis,Lucinda Williams,Mumford & Sons,Perfume Genius,Lisa Hannigan,The Flaming Lips andBill Callahan. Proceeds from the sales of the album were donated to theRed Hot Organization.[11]
On the back of the release, Kaufman performed a special live performance of the album at the second annualEaux Claires Music & Arts Festival as part of asupergroup of various acts who had appeared on the record, includingBon Iver (Justin Vernon), Jenny Lewis,Will Oldham,Matt Berninger andSam Amidon.[12]
In late 2015, Bob Weir revealed in an interview that he was writing songs with Kaufman and Josh Ritter for a project that had come about after Kaufman encouraged Weir to revisit the fireside songs and cowboy spirit of his teenage ranch years inWyoming.[13] On August 4, 2016, it was announced that Bob Weir would release his first solo album in almost 40 years on September 30, entitledBlue Mountain. The album would be produced by Kaufman and feature contributions from Josh Ritter, Scott Devendorf, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, Dawn Landes and many others.[14] An 11-date tour featuring a backing band made up of Kaufman and members of The National was also announced.
Josh has helped me a great deal in moving forward as an artist. He has an incredible ability to quickly find what part of a song is compelling. He’s able to bring out the best in me, and to improve my songs while maintaining the qualities that make them personal to me.
While working in a record store in the early 2000s, Kaufman encountered the music of theTwin Cities rock band,Lifter Puller. Many years later, in 2012, Kaufman was backingHannah Cohen during an appearance atCrossing Border Festival inThe Hague, The Netherlands.Craig Finn, frontman of Lifter Puller and more recentlyThe Hold Steady, was on the same bill performing solo material.[15] After watching Cohen's set, Finn approached Kaufman about collaborating and the pair reunited back in the US at Kaufman's studio inDumbo. There, they worked together on music for a production ofScott Z. Burns’ playThe Library before Finn lined up Kaufman to produce two solo studio albums,Faith in the Future (2015) andWe All Want the Same Things (2017).[16][17]
In March 2018, The Hold Steady unveiled two new tracks, “Eureka” and “Esther” which had been recorded with Kaufman in Brooklyn.[18] Kaufman is collaborating with the group on further recordings.
An announcement in late January 2019 revealed that Kaufman had produced a third solo record with Finn.[19]I Need A New War was released on April 26 in the US onPartisan Records. In an interview withThe 405, Finn revealed that Kaufman had been "very hands-on for these records", saying: "We really talk through the songs... He's helped me a lot."[20] To mark the album's release, Kaufman appeared with Finn onLate Night with Seth Meyers for a rendition of lead single ‘Something To Hope For’.[21] Though his work with Finn, he also bonded with drummer Joe Russo leading to the formation of their free-form group Boyfriends.[22]
As of 2019[update], Kaufman was part of a three-piece band,Bonny Light Horseman, consisting of himself,Eric D. Johnson ofFruit Bats and singer/songwriterAnaïs Mitchell.[23] The band released their third album in June 2024.[citation needed]
On March 6, 2020, it was announced that Kaufman would be joiningPaul Banks and Matt Barrick to form a new band,Muzz. The band also released their first single, "Bad Feeling."[24]
Kaufman collaborated withTaylor Swift on her albumFolklore, playing harmonica, electric guitar, and lap steel guitar on the song "Betty". He also collaborated on her albumEvermore, playing lap steel, harmonica, and mandolin on "Evermore", "Cowboy like Me", "Ivy", and "Willow".[25] In 2021, he collaborated onRed (Taylor's Version), playing electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, and harmonica on the songsBetter Man (Taylor's Version),I Bet You Think About Me, and "Run".
Co-producer with Andrew Marlin on Watchhouse.
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