Career
Josh Garrels is a singer-songwriter, hip-hop, popular producer, and orchestral folk composer from South Bend, Indiana. His music combines traditional folk music with other musical elements and the nontraditional exploration of Christian themes. Since 2005 he has co-founded the record label, Small Voice Records and released the albums: Over Oceans, Jacaranda, and Lost Animals.
Garrels released his sixth album in June 2011 titled Love & War & The Sea In Between.
In 2012, Garrels collaborated with the music collective Mason Jar Music to film the music-documentary movie The Sea In Between in which Mason Jar and Josh traveled to the remote Mayne Island, British Columbia to perform music on several of Mayne"s most beautiful locations. The film was reviewed by Billboard magazine and has received a 4.5 Star review on Amazon.com.
"Don"t Wait Foreign Maine" was featured on American Idol on January 29, 2014. From March 14, 2013 to March 28, 2013 (14 days) Garrels had 161,245 albums downloads on Noisetrade.com which raised $71,566 in "tips".
All of the funds were given in full to World Relief to help with their work to bring peace and restoration to the DR Congo.
In the weeks leading up to the 2015 release of the album Home, Garrels gave away free copies of his previous albums on Noisetrade.com. When Home was released, listeners had a choice between buying it on iTunes or downloading it for free on Noisetrade.com. In its first week, Garrels gave away 42,000 copies of Home for free on Noisetrade.com.
The giving away of the album did not seem to hurt the success of the album.
In fact some have suggested that the marketing strategy led to even greater success. National Public Radio (December 26, 2013)
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (October 17, 2013)
Relevant (magazine) (April 8, 2013)
The Huffington Post (March 26, 2013).
