Josh Cosby, a local musician known for his energetic performances and band Star & Micey, has provided Memphis with folksy music and live shows for nearly 25 years. In the past 10 years, Cosby has added being a husband and parent to his accomplishments. 

Cosby said he has been working toward a more predictable musical career to provide for his children and partner, moving away from the typical “rock’n’roll lifestyle”. 

To broaden his abilities, and revenue, Cosby has started online classes to learn music production. He has blocked out times in his calendar to write and record, working toward a new release for his solo project, “Black Bettie” at the end of April.  

Additionally, he has a new artist residency at Crosstown Brewing Company. One Wednesday each month, he will invite an up-and-coming artist to share the stage in an effort to bolster their following.  

He stopped by Belltower Coffee in between recording and picking up his daughter, Juniper, to share a few words about his journey in music and hopes for the future. He  brought his own Memphis-bridge themed cup, tea included, and walked briskly past the front register.  

This conversation below has been edited for length and clarity. 

RR: Did you sneak in your own tea? 

Cosby: Yeah... yeah I did (laughs). I’ll most likely buy some coffee and have them put it in this cup, or a croissant or something on the way out. 

RR: I won’t snitch, no worries. 

Cosby: Greatly appreciated. 

RR: Thanks for stopping by, I know you're busy. So, when and why did you start playing music? 

Cosby: I started music in elementary school and it was like, wow, I’m good at this. And my teacher embellished that (talent)... and then helped me be even better at it. It became kind of a safe place for me. Then I went from that cute, little, you could call it Montessori almost, school to like hardcore public school. Fights every day, people choking each other. And for me, when I got basically pinned against the wall, my way to survive with the mean kids was to sing like, Boyz II Men or something. And they were like, oh you can sing, and that became my safety. I became someone who could use my talents to survive.  

RR: What kind of music influenced you throughout your life, and where did the influences come from? 

Cosby: High school is when everything kind of changed. My girlfriend was really cool, and she was like, you ever heard of the Beatles? I’m like, no, what’s The Beatles? For me it was all about, you know, looking angry and the hardcore bands. She put on Abbey Road, and it was like, my mind just opened up and exploded. Then, I kind of became friends with her dad. He was a musician his whole life and was an engineer and a recording producer. He used the Beatles... as the Bible. And then everything changed. It was like, oh, I’m listening to the Beatles and then I’m listening to like, pop bands like Coldplay and stuff.  

RR: You mentioned you liked hardcore music. What bands were you into, and how do you think that influenced your music? 

Cosby: Oh yeah, I have lots of pictures of me with makeup on. Fake like, eyeliner as a goatee, even though I didn’t really have a goatee. Fake piercings, my hair was spiked, you know. I would do anything I could to look like the Deftones, or Korn at that time. Slipknot, I was massively into them when they first started out. Sevendust was a big band I was into. Everything was hardcore. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t do it. Like, my voice couldn’t do it. So, I think more than anything, it influenced me in a performance and image way... they kind of put everything out there, and they don’t care if anybody’s laughing at them. I call it kicking up dirt, you know, they’re slamming on stage and headbanging. I definitely took that into the way I do music now, the way I’ve done music as an adult... I’ll do some really weird stuff and movements on stage and wear some really bad clothes.  

RR: Your band Star & Micey has been a Memphis staple for years. There’s a story behind the name, right? 

Cosby: Yeah so, I had written a couple of songs... we were going to call the band Smooth. Which is... it’s a really bad band name. I thought it was cool. Thankfully everyone else thought it was not. I was like, no, our music’s smooth, the feeling is smooth, I was trying to, you know, really sell it. It wasn’t working. Anyway, I wrote a couple songs and at that time ... the girl had broken up with me and I wrote this song called “Late at Night”, which is just like, how could you do this? So, I was walking home at night, and I lived over by the P&H Cafe on Madison and it was kind of late... and I was like, it’s late I need to get in my apartment. I start walking real fast, I got my guitar in my hand; back then I just carried my guitar everywhere without it being in a case. And this guy’s going, “hey, hey” and I’m immediately on high alert, trying to get to the door. And he keeps saying, “no, please, please” and I like... I hear a tone where I’m like, okay, he sounds gentle. And I turn around and it’s this disheveled old black man, and he’s just kind of like, “hey, I had a really bad night and I see you got a guitar. I don’t want any money, but is there any way you could play me something to just make me feel a little better?” I was like, yeah man, yeah, and I played him "Late at Night”. He was grabbing his heart while I was singing it, and he goes, “I know exactly how you feel”. And he says he just wrote a song and started to sing a little bit of it. And he’s like, “that’s about my ex-girlfriend, Micey”. And I said, (your girlfriend was named) Micey? And he tells me that on the streets they all have nicknames. He’s like, “for instance, my nickname is Star”. And right then I said, dude, can I call my band Star & Micey? He got all teary eyed and gave me a big hug... He kind of became a local legend. I never met Micey. 

RR: With the band Star & Micey, did you guys experience they typical drinking and drugs rock’n’roll lifestyle? What was that like for you?  

Cosby: It affected us greatly. I can speak a little bit for my other band members because two of the main ones are sober now. When you’re in a band, it does help with the creative juices and the anxieties of being on the road or being at a show. Coincidentally, when you’re on the road and the venue can’t really pay you that much, they’re like, you can drink whatever you want (on the house). And then people invite you over to their house and they’re excited about a band. But it basically seeps through the cracks, and eventually becomes a way to cope with your anxieties, your relationships with each other... And you know, two of the guys ended up having some really dark times... we’ve always said if we had ever made it to that tour bus level, like Kings of Leon or something... those guys would be dead today.  

RR: How did having kids affect your view on music as a career? 

Cosby: A whole lot. It made me realize, you can’t just do this thing whenever you feel like it, whenever you feel inspired. With kids, you realize pretty quickly, you have almost zero time... So, I set aside time on a calendar on my phone... Now I’m going to school to learn mixing and producing, engineering, taking online classes so that I can... possibly make more money off it. And the other thing is financials. How can I use this tool to the most effect to be able to financially provide for my kids? 

RR: What can we look forward to with your music in the future? 

Cosby: There’s Josh and Friends (at Crosstown Brewery)... The first one is with Jesse Wilcox who’s in a band called Daykisser, and they’re a really cool up and coming band and he’s working really hard right now... He’s recording a solo EP and he’s recording his band’s EP. So I’m like, you’re working so hard dude, come over here and share some songs with me and showcase yourself... I have my solo project Black Bettie, I have a bunch of releases... I’m going to do some releases like every month or  two and eventually have an EP with some of those releases. April 29, I haven’t put it on socials yet, but I have a song I co-wrote with this guy, Aaron James, who’s a singer/songwriter on Unapologetic Records here in Memphis... So, I’m going to release that and continue to release some other things. It’s called "Young”. 

RR: Any plans with Star & Micey?  

Cosby: We haven’t released music in like five years or something. We got kind of burned pretty hardcore by our last record and the way it all turned out, the labels and the producing... We started playing shows (again) and we have that fun. We haven’t crossed back over to the sensitive side of recording. I’m trying to get us all together at a beach house, just to spend time together and have instruments around, just to see what happens. But I have got to orchestrate that because no one else will. But yeah, it’s exciting. 

Josh Cosby as a “hardcore” teen (taken by his high school girlfriend). 

Josh Cosby (left) and Jesse Wilcox at the first “Josh and Friends”.