Urlifestyle Magazine October 2016 URLifestyle E-Mag (September 2016) | Page 12

Featured Artists

NJ : Who are you , what ’ s your day jobs ??
BL : By day , Josh is paint contractor and business owner of All Star Painting . Tara is a homeschool mother of three , a freelance violinist in the Bismarck area , and violin teacher . She is also a nutritional health coach .
NJ : So , rap , and violin , that ’ s a great combo , what made you think of that ??
BL : Josh has been rapping for years for school assemblies , church gatherings , or pretty much whenever there has been an audience and the moment arises . Tara is a serious violin performer . When we got married , we started working together with music doing various projects , but in the last couple of years we started experimenting with putting our talents together to see what would happen . We liked it so we got more intentional and decided to go for it , so here we are !
NJ : What are your hobbies , besides music ?
BL : Josh enjoys traveling , fixing things , hanging out with friends , and hunting for morels . Tara loves to travel , cook healthy meals , and drink coffee or tea with friends .
NJ : When did you start playing music ? Do you both play instruments ?
BL : Music has always been a way of life for both of us . Josh had been singing with his family from a young age , started tinkering with the ukelele around age 8 , and took up guitar playing in college . He started rapping in Junior High . Tara started young on the piano and began violin when she was 8 years old . She likes to dabble with other instruments for enjoyment . This includes the tin whistle , harmonica , bass guitar or pretty much whatever .
NJ : Did you teach yourself how to play guitar / violin ?
BL : Josh was a self taught guitarist picking up tips from other people , Tara has studied formally as a violinist from the beginning . She went to college at St . Olaf College to study violin and presently she continues playing , studying and learning everyday to keep it up .
NJ : Who are your musical influences ?
BL : For rap and songwriting , Josh was influenced by DC Talk , T Bone , Owl City , Arty , Newsboys , and Toby Mac . Tara is influenced by many wonderful artists but a shout out goes to Jars of Clay , Lindsey Stirling , Lenard Jones .
NJ : Do you have a core message you send out in your songs ?
BL : Our message is positive , encouraging , and inspirational . Our lyrics all focus one way or another towards having or developing a “ Love Attitude .” We would like to encourage and help people to see they are deeply loved by God and they can choose to make the most out of everyday , and turn away from the things that
get us down .
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