The Maui News

Josh Groban won’t let virus stop him

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It’s the sound of silence that Josh Groban finds hardest to hear during the pandemic.

Quarantine hasn’t stilled his voice or songwritin­g, but the give-and-get Groban usually enjoys from interactin­g with his audience is gone. He sings into a machine and hears nothing back.

“When the song is over, to have silence is so weird,” he said. “The back and forth that I love so much, chatting with the audience, going into the crowd — I’ve had to fill in that gap in my head.”

Groban is doing his best to fill the void with a new album due in November and three themed live-streaming concerts, starting with a set featuring Broadway tunes in October.

“This has been a time to get creative in ways we never were expecting,” he said. “One of my goals throughout all of this is to really not push away what I’m feeling but take it out from under the rug and use it for inspiratio­n.”

The album will be called “Harmony,” which was halffinish­ed when quarantine started. Though he hasn’t frozen the song list yet, most will be covers of classics that fans have long asked for — like “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “She” — with a few originals throw in.

“For me, the songs evoke a feeling of hope, a feeling of togetherne­ss, songs that just make me feel so good to sing,” he said. “It’s an album that for me was very therapeuti­c to sing.”

The album will form the backbone for the second of Groban’s concerts on Nov. 26. The third will be a Dec. 19 Christmas concert, a first for Groban.

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