Biography

A year after moving to L.A. in 2002, Josh was retained by Virgin recording artist Ricky Fante and performed with Ricky for the next 2 years. In 2006, Josh recorded his 5th CD, Deep Roots & continued to play with a variety of artists such as actress Taryn Manning, Universal Music hip-hop artists Benny Cassette & Tara Ellis, to name a few. In 2007, Josh was hired by 2006 American Idol winner Taylor Hicks to be his lead guitarist. They completed 2 National tours before Josh was hired as lead guitarist by Grammy Award winner Raphael Saadiq. In 2009, Josh released his 6th studio CD, Inception & in 2010 he was signed to Crosscut Records based in Germany. Crosscut re-released Josh’s breakout album, Deep Roots as I’m Gonna Be Ready. In 2013, Josh’s CD Don’t Give Up On Me was released, followed by Over Your Head in 2014. In 2016, Josh’s jazz album, Still was released to critical acclaim as was Burn To Grow in 2018. Along with touring the world, recording & performing with renowned artists such as Joe Bonamassa, Eric Johnson, Andy Timmons, Kirk Fletcher & others, Smith is also a producer and owns Flat V Studios in Los Angeles. He has produced artists Reese Wynans (Joe Bonamassa), Artur Menezes (winner of the Eric Clapton 2019 Crossroads Festival) Seth Rosenbloom, Jamey Arent & many more. Josh’s latest & 11th album, Live At The Spud, was released January 8, 2020 on Flat V Music, and features Smith and his power trio recorded live at the legendary Baked Potato in Los Angeles.