The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Josh Groban won’t let virus stop his live music and album
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 half-finished 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 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.
“I think what people are missing right now is the connectivity in real time. It’s the feeling that we’re all going to commune and be part of something together,” he said.
The concerts will piggyback on what he’s learned about performing remotely. Post-virus, Groban eschews doing it pre-taped and has found a perfect space in Los Angeles to broadcast that has tremendous bandwidth. Tickets to individual concerts go on sale Aug. 25 and start at $30.