Joe Cox: In 2018, I released an EP full of original folk songs (and a cover!) and no one really cared. I’d grown up as a teenager playing bass in local bands, and even in my early adult years, hopping on shows as a frontman for a band called “Sleds for Giants.” All the while, I was playing other original music as “Joebin,” which was a nickname I was given while working at a local Domino’s Pizza when I was 19.

In January of 2019, I played a show with a couple notable Cincinnati acts at a coffee house, and I realized that I was the most irrelevant artist there. Not a single member of that crowd would remember that I played that night. It hit me that I wasn’t pouring into pursuing music the way these other artists were. I had two passions, film and music. Film and video production were where I was actually making money. Not a lot of money, but at least it was a paycheck! My wife and I were starting our family, and we just didn’t have the resources for me to make music that wasn’t contributing to the household income when I was already working in another career that was almost as hard to make profitable!

Back in early college, I had a bit of a faith crisis, and I was close to leaving everyone and everything behind and just pursuing whatever my heart desired. But I had family and friends that cared about me, prayed for me, and kept speaking into my life. Then, in my mid-20s, I was having serious bouts with anxiety and depression, and I kept thinking about how hard it was, but that it would be even harder without Jesus. I wondered what my life might have been like if I had just left when I was 18 years old and walked away from faith. Would this depression and anxiety lead me to ending my own life? Would life be even harder? It might seem incredible at first, leaving home looking for answers or meaning, only to find out things are just as hard, but without a support system that you already know.

So I wrote the song “Stay” and realized it worked really well as the start to a story, following an alternate version of me. One who would make the choice of going down that road that I didn’t take. And how that decision to walk away from faith might make things more complicated.

Joe: I think the hardest part of returning to these songs after the last 8 years is that I’ve grown a whole lot, both as a musician and as a believer. Also, I have so much more life experience now, being a father of 3 little girls. Some of the songs received an update, both musically and lyrically. A few were reshaped to better focus the narrative. The original versions of some of these songs had a little more pointed language, as I was going through a pretty dark time and I felt the need to be “edgy.” So I cleaned up some of that language, but still tried to keep it potent and honest, to not shy away from the reality.

The hardest part was that outside of a couple of worship songs I’d written and played at church, I hadn’t written a Joebin song in those 8 years. I had writer’s block, and every time I’d sit down to write, I was left empty-handed. This was just sitting on the shelf, and it’s like my subconscious wouldn’t let me write because I had unfinished business. I had songs that needed to come out.

Joe: So I covered that the character in the story is an alternate version of me, making choices that I could have made but didn’t. I’ll elaborate a little further from there.

The song “Intercede” was the first track written for this record. It was a song I wrote after dealing with suicidal thoughts. Where I was in life, I felt broken and dirty, unworthy of the love of others, and I was so angry at God. Years later, after the Lord pulled me from all of that darkness, I was pondering those days, and I wrote the song as a way of telling that story. One of a man admitting he’s lost and willing to tell everyone, except humbly go before Christ. Soon after, I wrote the track “Stay,” and I realized after the fact that subconsciously I’d written it from the perspective of a young version of me, hoping that he’d find answers out in the world. Naturally, it felt like bookends to a concept album. So I started writing from there, exploring the journey of how one gets to that low. So I followed a narrative of rejecting faith, exploring wants and desires, falling into hatefulness, bitterness, self-loathing, and finally suicidal thoughts and, thankfully, being too afraid to follow through.

So, finally, 8 years later, there were thirteen tracks laid out for the project from 2018. I found that four of the songs didn’t quite work. Some were repeating story beats or were trailing off track just a bit, and I felt like there needed to be a moment of calm realization of where this character is at mentally in the middle of the record. This led to me writing “Birthday,” which was the first Joebin song I’d written in 8 years. That makes it the only new song on this record, as all the others were played live back in the day and at least had crappy phone-recorded demos archived on my computer.

Joe: Yeah, I kind of like a bit of everything. I grew up listening to my dad’s record collection, so lots of Eagles, Beach Boys, and The Moody Blues. I loved the theatrical nature of Supertramp and the conceptual nature of Tommy by The Who. Growing up an evangelical Christian, my mom only let me listen to Christian music unless it was “oldies” approved by my dad. So I fell in love with Relient K, Switchfoot, Anberlin, and House of Heroes.

My dad is super into bluegrass, which gave me a weird nostalgic love for the world of Appalachian music and folk. That’s when I realized I could tell stories the way folk artists do, but wrap it in a pop punk package, or even an indie rock package, or whatever musical style I want to explore! That’s why, no matter the sound I explore, I still consider myself a folk artist. Not every song I write is autobiographical, but it does tell a story!

Joe: Eric is the best! I have known Eric since I was 17 years old, when my high school band “Hear Me Out” recorded our debut record with him called “How Far We’ve Come” (streaming plug!). Eric has been speaking into my life ever since and has been a fantastic friend in that time frame. So when this project was finally ready to be made, I had to reach out and ask him to produce!

One of the things I love about Eric is that, as a producer, he never tries to force you into a box. He wants the record to be representative of you and your sound, so he’s always looking for ways to accentuate what makes you stand out. Eric even does some harmonies and backing vocals on the record and even played a few layers of rhythm guitar to help thicken things out and give the record a much fuller sound. Eric’s incredibly sweet wife and daughter even hopped in and sang on the doxology for the tracks “Church” and “Birthday.” Eric is so good about coaching us to achieve the vision I had for the record, whether it was working with my nephew Isaiah on some lead guitar riffs or pushing my drummer Carson to get the most out of him.

I don’t know if the songs turned out differently than expected because of Eric, but they turned out better than I could have hoped because of his leadership and guidance. My favorite Eric moment from day one of vocals was, “I know you don’t think you have a good voice. But you do. So I’m going to need you to just sing now, okay?” And then he hit play for the track, so I couldn’t respond.

Joe: So obviously I’ve already talked about “Birthday.” But during that time, I wrote a handful of worship songs. One of them you can hear online under “MiddNaz Worship,” and it’s called “Make Me More Like You.”

But the short answer is yes. I’m writing music again. Since completing the recording process earlier this year, I’ve written ten new songs and am piecing together the beginnings of a follow-up to “Intercede,” but that will be a little closer to my current musical tastes and interests.

Joe: I have been a worship pastor at my current church for the last 7 years. I have been very open and honest with our congregation about my struggles with anxiety and depression. Many members and leaders in my church have been incredibly supportive of me and appreciate the candidness that I have when speaking about these real problems. In fact, members of our worship band appear throughout the album, like our lead guitarist Isaiah, our drummer Carson Potter, and the harmonies on “Hometown,” performed by Aubrey Profitt.

My church is an incredible support system when I have bouts of anxiety and depression, even now, with years of experience under my belt. There are people in my church that I know I can go to and talk through things with and receive not a scolding, but love, encouragement, prayer, wisdom, and logical thinking when my mind isn’t producing that logic itself. I think it’s so important for more Christians to open up about mental health struggles and be honest about doubt. We have a growing number of kids who have “deconstructed,” and the church turns its back and gets angry when they question things instead of saying, “Let’s explore those questions together.”

I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe that He is the only Son of God and that He died and resurrected. But I have struggled with existentialism and doubt and fear of the unknown of what happens when I die. And it took deep diving into the historical figure of Jesus for me to really lean into believing that He was who He said He was. One night, my daughter, at five years old, asked me, “What happens when I die?” and she confessed that she lies awake at night thinking about it and living in fear. She’s just a little girl and already has these struggles? It broke my heart.

I had to record this album so that my girls will always know that I am not perfect. It's important that other people who have those fears and thoughts know they aren’t alone. That people who they think “have it all together” struggle too.

Joe: I think the album artwork and the process was one of my favorite parts. My dear friends, actor Mikah Fikes and actress Brandi Botkin, are the models on the cover of the album. I was doing a photo shoot for my friend Brandi, and we themed it around a “Bad Birthday.” Then I realized one of the images would make for incredible artwork for one of the songs. This led me to reaching out to Mikah, as they had starred together in my short film “Holy Crap.” When I pitched the idea, they were all in.

So I set out to make a fuzzy Polaroid memory out of every moment in this character’s story as a core moment. From the church, the car, the phone argument on “Cave-In,” to kids playing wiffle ball in the lot behind our church (shout out to my pastor’s kids, Adley and Clay, for posing!). I realized this would work as artwork for any of the songs I release as a single, and then it hit me: I could just make it a collage so that if you look at the cover, you’ll see the moments how the character in the story does.

Joe: I have been! I shoot a lot of weddings and corporate events to pay the bills. I have also written and directed several award-winning short films, including “A Balanced Breakfast” (which can be found on YouTube) and, more recently, a Christian comedy titled “Holy Cr*p.”

I have a few projects up my sleeve, but I’m not quite ready to talk about those yet.

Joe: While I have come out of retirement to release the album, I don’t currently have any touring planned. But I will be doing some shows in my home state of Ohio, maybe Kentucky and Indiana as well, off and on over the next year. I’d love to play more shows, but my career and family keep me pretty busy!

You can find me @Joebin_Music on Instagram and TikTok. I have a Facebook page as well, but I’m going to be honest: sometimes I forget to post updates there.

I think if you keep a close eye on it, you might find some new music from Joebin in 2027 as well. I’ve already texted Eric from Sower about the studio time.