Josh Fortenbery thought he was writing a record. He didn’t expect to end up with 10 eulogies instead. “It probably comes off as moody and dark at times, but that’s just what I was feeling,” the Alaska songwriter says of his second studio album, Tidy Memorial.
“I don’t ever set out to write a thematic record. I’m just always writing, and I was getting to the point where I had a lot of songs in the hopper, and it was time to record something. I started picking out my favorite ones and realized that pretty much all of them were songs that were mourning something.”
Fortenbery’s first record, No Such Thing As Forever, was released in 2024, and it is largely a string-band album. Fortenbery plays in a bluegrass group, as well as in an outlaw country band. For Tidy Memorial, which dropped in the fall, he leaned heavily into the latter. It’s big on electric instruments, but it’s also decidedly country, with Fortenbery’s baritone vocals front-and-center.
He recorded the album during the tourist offseason in a hotel — without heat — near his home in Juneau, and invited a group of local musicians to play on it, creating the sort of communal studio vibe associated with recordings from Nashville or Austin. He sets the tone for the record on the first track, “Heaven Above,” which includes the lines “It’s not like I can’t see what’s wrong/I read the news, I just hate protest songs.”
One of the singles from the project, “City Lights,” is a haunting lament of aging and the loss of youth, but it was actually started when Fortenbery, now 38, was in high school.
“It has meant something different to me at every stage of life,” he says of the song. “At this stage it’s, ‘I’m afraid I’m never gonna settle down. I’m afraid I’ll never leave my hometown.’ It’s odd how certain insecurities and anxieties follow you. I’m not 18 anymore. I’m in my late 30s. I still feel a little bit unsure about whether I’m doing the right thing.”
The album’s fifth track, “Steven,” takes the eulogy metaphor completely off the table. It was explicitly written for Steven Kissack, an unhoused man who was well-known in Juneau and often seen around the bars with his malamute, Juno. Kissack was fatally shot and killed by law enforcement in July 2024 (his dog was subsequently adopted by a Juneau resident), and Fortenbery paid tribute in the song the day after the shooting. “Couldn’t cover basic bills, so lived outside until he got killed,” he sings.
“Most people who played music here, who worked in the bars, ran into him a bunch,” Fortenbery recalls. “He was a sweet, really nice guy, and had this giant dog that lived with him outside. They ended up shooting and killing him right in downtown Juneau at the height of cruise ship season. It was certainly a traumatic event for the town, and certainly not a unique story to Juneau. That song came out of me right away.”
By and large, Fortenbery’s engagement in the lower 48 states happens either on social media or via phone calls and video interviews in support of his music. Most of his touring in 2026 is planned for his home state. He has shows on the slate for Juneau and Anchorage, and last fall he was named president of the Alaska Folk Festival. However, Fortenbery will spend late May touring Ireland ahead of the annual Westport Bluegrass Festival in early June.
“I feel like I have a pretty strong Alaskan music community and following,” he says. “But getting to play and share these songs outside of the state has been the most exciting part for me.”
Josh Crutchmer is a journalist and author whose book (Almost) Almost Famous will be released April 1 via Back Lounge Publishing.
