Joshua Ketchmark’s first solo album Under Plastic Stars isn’t an opening salvo, per se, but rather a culmination of a long journey. Hailing from Peoria, Illinois, Ketchmark has worked with and alongside of the music world’s true icons like Michael Jackson and important modern acts like Fuel, among many others, without ever turning his attentions towards a solo album until now. It is no over exaggeration to say this moment is akin to when a butterfly emerges. Ketchmark comes across [...]

By Mike Yoder View Source Joshua Ketchmark’s album Under Plastic Stars opens with the gentle strains of “We Were Everything” and, as the past tense of the title implies, it finds the singer/songwriter in a downcast mood. Ketchmark comes across as an essentially romantic songwriter here, adept with the time tested formulas of tunes about heartache, but it’s far from the only ace in his deck. “Every Mystery” continues in a similar vein as the opener, but it’s here where […]

By Pamela Bellmore View Source There are likely to be two dominant schools of thought regarding Joshua Ketchmark’s Under Plastic Stars. The first will find Ketchmark’s twelve song collection to be a remarkably unified work, both lyrically and musically, with nary a hole to be seen in the track listing. Another point of view will likely peg Under Plastic Stars as a remarkably promising work slightly marred by too many similarities between songs and potentially benefitted by being pruned by […]

By Jay Snyder View Source From the opening, gentle strum the heart-warming, tumbleweed kicking love song, “We Were Everything” and culminating in the rhythmically pulsating, winding electric guitar leads and spitfire soul vocals of closer “The Great Unknown,” it’s clear that Joshua Ketchmark has arrived. Hailing from his humble beginnings in Peoria, Illinois and eventually carving a path to every big-time music city in the USA (LA just to name one of many places), Ketchmark is now twelve releases strong […]

By Drew East View Source Being a reviewer is really a dream job. You get to discover new music that you’ve missed and sometimes music from established artists that you couldn’t catch either. There’s so much stuff out there with the ease of home-recording taking over the market that you’re bound to forget to check out something. Reviewers on the other hand have it easy and being one has led me to the music of Joshua Ketchmark and his 12th […]

By Frank McClure View Source It all started with the debut of MTV for singer/songwriter Joshua Ketchmark. Being turned onto the channel during its birth, the volley of new music videos emerging for the first time sent Ketchmark in a search for his mother’s old acoustic guitar. Soon he was writing riffs, then he was writing songs and finally he started jamming with his friends at rehearsals at his own house and around the neighborhood. That boyhood dream is now […]

By Wendy Owens View Source Peoria native Joshua Ketchmark has truly led a storied life in the music industry with his adventure taking him from small town Illinois to Seattle to LA and beyond. He’s worked with the rock band Fuel, Jonny Lang and Melissa Etheridge. He’s learned much about audio and production while sitting in with legendary producers Rob Cavallo (Green Day), Michael Beinhorn (Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers and many more); he’s worked KISS’s rehearsals and even had […]

By Alonzo Evans View Source Illinois-bred singer/songwriter Joshua Ketchmark has built a slow and steady career on excellent musical craftsmanship and stellar guitar playing that’s spanned a dozen releases to date. He’s brushed shoulders with Melissa Etheridge and has worked with the production teams that have brought to life recordings by Elvis Costello, Don Henley and Ryan Adams. In a tough modern musical climate where it’s very difficult to get your own original compositions out there for the public to […]

By Daniel Boyer View Source “We Were Everything” begins Joshua Ketchmark’s Under Plastic Stars on a decidedly elegiac note, but this isn’t a dreary collection of songs. Ketchmark’s first full fledged solo effort, self-produced and written by Ketchmark, finds this longtime musical cohort of some of the music world’s biggest acts stepping out on his own with considerable talent and finesse. The primarily acoustic slant to this album is adorned with other touches like keyboards and even some occasional swaths […]

By Laura Dodero View Source A longtime collaborator and sideman for many important and legendary musicians, Joshua Ketchmark has made his way in the modern music world based on work ethic and talent. It’s little wonder that his first effort at a solo album, Under Plastic Stars, turns out to be such a satisfying effort – these songs are long gestating gems further energized by his obvious commitment to the material. Ketchmark’s work definitely falls in the singer/songwriter category, but […]