To have it happen in the second decade of my career, makes me feel validated, Abbott says.
It says that we are a band that will last and be around a long time.
Abbott wrote all three of his gold-certified songs, but the first two were some of his earliest compositions.
Josh Abbott Band made their Stagecoach festival debut this spring.Amy Sussman/Getty
Oh, Tonight was instrumental in launching not only Abbotts career, but that of Musgraves as well.
Both that song and Shes Like Texas received gold recognition in April 2021.
All three were independent releases on Abbotts Pretty Damn Tough label.
To get to record that song at a later stage is special, and it went gold faster.
Those first two took more than 10 years.
I chose Settle Me Down because itll always be one of my favorite songs.
I was really happy with how it came out.
I did it in one live take, and I think thats what music is all about.
But there are also days where I find myself hanging on, trying to stay relevant.
When youre a younger artist, its all eyes on you.
You cant record enough, or soon enough.
Every single time you put out something people are all over it.
Its been challenging, really, emotionally and mentally, for me.
But then there are others where I go, No.
Im gonna be fine.
Im gonna be doing this the rest of my life.
I find it really challenging to write songs that are sad.
I cant write a breakup song.
Ive already done that in my past.
Ive had a whole album that was about that sort of thing.
But Im also not at a stage in my career where Im writing beer-drinking college songs.
Im writing songs that inspire me about real things.
Thankfully, the Panhandlers have been a good outlet for songs like that.
Theres also not a ton of pressure on me to write a lot of songs for myself.
Were seven albums in.
The fans know what they like.
They want to hear the old shit.
Ive heard Paul McCartney make that joke at a concert.
Ive heard Garth Brooks make that joke.
Ive heard Bruce Springsteen make it.
You want to hear the old shit.
