Josties sing gospel, spread faith as a family

Over the years, the Milk River Jamboree has brought Malta and it’s surrounding areas talents from all around the U.S. and Canada, this was apparentt two weekends ago as nine bands took the stage.

With a large amount of people going in and out of the Malta High School auditorium, one could only notice that a certian act was numerous. Very numerous.

Seven years ago Milk River’s (in Alberta, Canada) Jost family, consisting of Dale, Lisa and their 11 children, set out on a journey to bring the world music of a different note. Thus the Josties were born.

For over more years than Dale and Lisa’s 33-year marriage, the couple has grown together in music and have performed in different venues for the sake of the gospel.

“We sang together in coffee houses and prison ministries before we were married,” said Dale. “There was a season as our children were coming up that we didn’t tour together as a family.”

The family did continue to play in church services, where all the while, their children one by one picked up instruments and microphones.

“In the last seven or eight years, God has given us a vision for ministering to and encouraging other families,” Dale said. “We really want to be an encouragement to all families young and old, to give them a vision of what their family can do for the Kingdom of God.”

Numbers aren’t everything, but not everyone can say they have toured America or Canada with 11 children in tow. Even less people can say that all of their children are musically talented in some sense.

The children of Lisa and Dale in today’s installment of the band consist of Josiah who plays stand up bass and mandolin, Joel is the family’s engineer, Emily plays the cello and does vocals, Jeremiah plays banjo, ganjo, guitar, mandolin, cajon and vocals, Joseph does the merchandising, website, stand up bass and bass, Joshua plays cajon, Amy Joy is the lead vocalist, Hannah Grace plays violins and is also a vocalist and the youngest Judah is an up and coming vocalist. (They have two older sons Jesse and Jonathan, that are now married and don’t travel with the band. Both are also musically talented.)

Their third son Josiah is also an internationally known logo designer, Joel is also a film maker and Joseph is heavily into web design. The family also has found a jewelry designer in daughter Emily, who also models.

Dale plays guitar and a dobro, which is a resonator guitar and wife Lisa plays guitar and mandolin as well as vocals.

The Josties have been working hard as a family since the band’s conception and they have recently released their fifth album entitled, Song of Hope. The title song, Song of Hope, will have a video posted soon on Josties.com.

“All of our songs are original songs and Lisa has written them,” said Dale. “Emily has also written one.”

In the album, the family cleverly combined bluegrass, folk, funk, and rhythm for a style the Josties call “Newgrass-Folk.”

The Song of Hope was written in hopes that it would give the listener a way out of that despair and desolation.

If you were curious about the band’s name, Lisa told the PCN, “It’s kind of a nickname for us. We figured there were enough family (named) singers out there. We just wanted a approachable family kind of name.”

As much as the jamboree loves the Josties, who are in their third year of performing at the MRJ, the Josties love the jamboree.

“We are so blessed by the amount of variety here,” Lisa said. “If we don’t come we are missing out on a lot of talent.”

The Josties performed on three separate occasions at the jamboree and even plated a set at Grace Fellowship church in Malta, last Sunday.

For more info on the Josties, go to Josties.com or visit their page on Facebook. The family is on their own independent label and Dale is the band’s booking agent.