Josh Rogan is an Americana, Blues and Rock-N-Roll musician who is truly committed to the Live Riveted lifestyle. He and his wife Eliza have been traveling the country and playing gigs in their 1962 Safari and have been making some incredible memories along the way. We recently caught up with Josh and Eliza and want to share a bit of their story with you. We’ll kick off their interview today and finish out tomorrow, so be sure to check back!
Tell us a little about yourself and how you got your start in music:
I was born in Virginia. We lived in the Mountains - country style, wild and free but with values of education, global awareness, and traveling. I was also just raised a good old country boy and when a lot of my friends were playing Nintendo, I was out in the woods playing with my imagination.
From as early as I can remember I would play my Dad's guitars in the living room. I grew up with my Dad passing down a great appreciation of the finer quality instruments that are available. He also introduced me to the best songwriters of our time: JJ Cale, Bob Dylan and music by the Dire Straits and Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Both of my parents are artists, so I grew up in a household full of artistic energy and support for being creative. As I got older and went through school it was obvious I was different. I had a hard time learning, I needed a lot of help getting good grades, and I never really fit in. The guitar was always a way for me to feel cool and feel appreciated and also express myself. As I got more serious, I could never stop playing. I started writing songs and performing gigs. I played my first paid gig when I was a senior in high school. I played at a college graduation party and from then on it just grew and grew and grew!
How did you first learn about Airstream?
I've heard about Airstreams my whole life and always looked at them and thought of them as, "Wow that's cool! Who's that cool person? I want to go hang out in that thing and check it out!" But it never really became a dream or a necessity until three years ago.
Once I started touring full-time solo and spending a lot of time on the road, I learned very quickly I needed something that would bring more comfort to the road. I began looking into every option, Road trek to small buses, school buses, box trucks, renovated box trucks, vans, trailers, RVs and Airstreams. After months of research and looking in all the options it was clear to me that it was "Airstream or bust!”
As a stonemason and a builder I have a strong appreciation for top quality construction, so it wasn't hard for me to see that Airstream was obviously the most well constructed travel trailer available. Once I knew that it was the best, I decided to take whatever Airstream I could afford or find rather than buy a new or even working alternative.
"Airstream or bust" became our mantra until we found our 1962 Safari. My wife and I feel that we basically won the lottery. We now own a true gem, something that's gorgeous and something that we dearly love.
Life on the road has truly changed and we feel like the trailer opened up an entirely new world to us that we didn't know existed. I'm specifically talking about the Airstream community. I always knew there was another world that existed on the road, but meeting other Airstreamers has really opened my eyes.
Where has your Airstream been on tour this summer?
We left Colorado in our Airstream and headed east, crossing eastern Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia. We love to find places to pull our Airstream and boondock. We rarely stay in RV parks because of the cost, so we are always sleeping somewhere unique.
From Virginia we went north to Michigan up through Pennsylvania and played in Eaton Rapids, MI. After that we returned to Virginia from Eaton Rapids to spend more time in the woods on my own family land in Virginia.
Then we took off for Sturgis, SD crossing the northern states out into the Badlands and straight into the heart of Sturgis for two weeks. There I played every day at The Easy Rider Saloon. Then we traveled on to Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Idaho, and then finally home to Redstone, CO.
We’re already loving hearing about Josh’s Live Riveted adventures and can’t wait to hear more. Check back tomorrow for details on his favorite part of the tour, some neat things he is up to, and what “Live Riveted” looks like to them!
