Meet Josh Sahunta | Singer-Songwriter, Producer, Multi-Instrumentalist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Josh Sahunta and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Josh, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
My work-life balance has changed dramatically even just over the past 3 years of my career. I used to work non-stop. From the time I woke up, until the time I went to sleep again with very minimal breaks in between. I was as many would say, a “workaholic”. I was addicted to work. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night because of the anxiety (and excitement) of having to work again the next morning. This was great for my productivity, and it helped me a lot to get to where I am now, but it certainly wasn’t sustainable, nor was it good for my mental and physical health. I would be tired all the time. I would be living with constant stress and anxiety, unable to enjoy leisure time with friends and family because of all the things I still “had to get done”.

Since getting married last year, I’ve changed my mindset about work dramatically. My wife is my priority now and I enjoy time spent with her far more than I enjoy working. I am now able to close my laptop after 4pm every day and turn my phone to “do not disturb” at that time too, and just enjoy the evening with her, or with friends, or in doing some sort of recreational activity. This has alleviated a lot of my stress and has helped me to come to work every morning feeling much more refreshed and ready to take on the day.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve been making music professionally now since 2017, after finishing a 5-year degree in Psychology at the University of Alberta. The journey to get here has been incredibly difficult and has required so much patience and perseverance. As mentioned in the previous question, I never had a lot of support in my dreams of pursuing a career in music. I went to university mostly to honour my parents wishes, and though I enjoyed the experience for the most part, I knew it wasn’t where I wanted to be. I was working 3 jobs while I was studying full-time, so I really didn’t have a lot of time to focus on music while I was at school. I had a friend who was an incredible producer by the name of JDats, who would invite me over to his studio at like 9:30pm on weeknights to work on music. He worked during the day while I was at school so the only time either of us had was super late at night. We would work sometimes until 4 in the morning (and I had to be up for school at 7), but it was the only time either of us had to make music.

I eventually released an album of the songs we did together in 2017 and that essentially kickstarted my career. I was planning to go back to school to do my masters, but was able to convince my parents with getting on board with me taking a year off to pursue music (while working full time as well). During that year, I worked a 9-5 job in my field, and spent all my extra time practicing, writing, sending emails, collaborating, and doing anything I could to get my music in front of people.

I eventually started getting booked so much that I had to leave my full-time job and get something a bit more irregular. I ended up working as a waiter at a pizza restaurant while playing as many shows as I could get after my shifts. I then started getting booked so much that I couldn’t even keep up with my serving job so I left that as well.

It’s been 2 years since I left my serving job and I haven’t ever felt like I needed to get another job again. I feel incredibly blessed and fortunate for that. It’s taken an insane amount of work and “never giving up” attitude to get here. I still feel like there’s so much further I’d like to go, but I feel like I am finally in a good place with my career.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If you’re coming to Edmonton, well I’m definitely going to take you to the mountains. I live about 3 hours from Banff National Park and Jasper National Park, which in many opinions are some of the most beautiful places on Earth. If its winter, then we’re going skiing. In Banff alone, there are 3 major ski resorts (Sunshine Village and Lake Louise being my favourite). You could keep yourself entertained for quite a while at these resorts. After that, we would go hang out in downtown Banff, which is one of my favourite places to go. It’s very touristy, but it feels like a little Christmas village and I love Christmas so its a perfect setting for someone like me. We’d probably go for dinner at the Park Distillery, which is a relatively new restaurant that has the most incredible food and selection of in-house made beers. After that, we’d have an endless amount of hikes we could do, or if I had the choice, we’d head back up to the ski hill the next day!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Honestly, I owe all my thanks to God.

I never had much support pursuing music as a career. My family didn’t like it, my friends didn’t think it was realistic. I felt completely alone and almost as if I was crazy for trying to pursue something so unorthodox as a full-time, life-long career path. I cannot tell you how many nights I spent unable to sleep, just praying about some sort of sign that music was what I was meant to do with my life. I felt so close to quitting. Eventually, things started lining up. I started getting more bookings, I started meeting and impressing the right people, and slowly doors were being opened. Now, I’m making a full-time earning making music every single day. Some of it is for other people, some of it is for myself, but I’ve been able to build a sustainable career even during the pandemic by trusting Gods plan for my life, and relying on him when I have felt hopeless. I have no idea what is coming next, but I believe that if I continue to trust, and also work as hard as I possibly can, great things could happen. Even if they don’t though, I’m still so grateful to have even gotten here.

Website: https://www.joshsahunta.com

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/joshsahunta

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshsahuntaa

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/JoshSahuntaMusic

Other: TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@joshsahunta Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/37aXAbBndtjTPR4aUKumLV

Image Credits
Main Photo – Jordan Rioux Second Photo – Tianda Flegel