Josiah Queen Talks Chart-Topping New Album ‘Mt. Zion,’ His Folk-Rock Sound: ‘It’s About Breaking Down the Walls’

Known for his rustic, acoustic-folk sound, Contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Josiah Queen has a troubadour’s knack for translating keen observations into evocative songs, such as his breakthroughs “Fishes and Loaves” and “The Prodigal,” and his most recent radio single release, “Dusty Bibles.”

With his new album Mt. Zion, the 22-year-old Florida native’s reach expands beyond Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart, where it debuted at No. 1; the album also marks his debut on the all-genre Billboard 200 (No. 57), while also debuting at No. 4 on the Americana/Folk albums chart and No. 12 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart.

“It’s crazy, especially the rock chart. I’m like, ‘Man, I didn’t know I made rock music, but let’s go,’” Queen told Billboard shortly after the album’s debut.

Queen has six songs proliferating the Hot Christian Songs chart, including “Dusty Bibles” at No. 3, as well as his Brandon Lake collaboration, “Can’t Steal My Joy” and other songs from the new album, “Cloud and Fire” and “Watch Your Mouth.”

Mt. Zion also marks Queen’s first album after signing with Capitol CMG (in conjunction with F&L Music Group) earlier this year.

“Josiah has had an exceptional year,” Capitol CMG president Brad O’Donnell told Billboard in a statement. “He’s had his biggest shows ever and now has released an incredible new album. Its success across multiple genres is a testament to the quality and depth of his music. Not only did he top the Christian charts, he also had strong showings at rock and folk, proving that his music is reaching a universal audience.”

Queen is also gearing up for a potential torrent of awards wins next month at the GMA Dove Awards, thanks to his debut The Prodigal, which also reached No. 1 on Top Christian Albums. Queen is in the running for artist of the year at the Oct. 7 GMA Dove Awards, while “The Prodigal” is up for song of the year, and the deluxe version of The Prodigal is up for pop/contemporary album of the year.

“I’m truly blessed. Just the fact that I can even say I have two albums, it’s amazing,” Queen says.

Billboard spoke to Queen about Mt. Zion, his new label home, and the success of songs including “Dusty Bibles” and “Can’t Steal My Joy.”

“Dusty Bibles” is at No. 3 on the Hot Christian Songs chart and climbing on the Christian Airplay chart. You wrote it with Zac Lawson, Dylan Thomas and John Michael Howell.  What inspired the song?

I was listening to Chris Martin of Coldplay talk about how all his biggest songs, he wrote in like 10 minutes. I feel like sometimes the ideas just come out of nowhere. With this album, I wanted to write about things that are practical in our lives, that keep us away from God, whether it’s a song like “Slow Down, Please,” where I was going through a season of life where I felt like it was a million miles an hour. With “Dusty Bibles,” I just had this thought about we’ve got dust on our Bibles but brand-new iPhones. We all kind of laughed and [my co-writers] were like, “You can’t put that in a song,” and “How about Android users?”

But it just stuck. I wrote that last October or November — we almost didn’t release it. We thought we’d just throw it on the album, but listening back to it, it just felt very relatable. I was spending too much time on my phone, and I felt like it was really timely. But it’s also funny because, in my generation, if I didn’t have TikTok or Instagram, I probably wouldn’t be here [in music]. It’s a cool opportunity for artists to come up and be independent, but if you find all your validation from your phone, it just never fulfills that.

How did you decide on Mt. Zion as the title of the album?

I wanted to write an album about the things in our lives that we try to keep away from God, and the song ‘Mount Zion’ talks about realizing we don’t deserve God’s love, yet we’re still invited into it. It’s about breaking down the walls.

The Prodigal was released independently, while Mt. Zion was released with Capitol CMG. What has it been like working with a label versus independently?

The last album, I didn’t even have, funny enough, CDs or vinyls for people to buy. That’s a really big thing. Also, I like to give singles a moment and not do too many. It felt like they didn’t want me to change how I wanted to do things. But they came beside me and helped me on a lot of the other fronts. On [radio chain Educational Media Foundation’s] Air1, the worship channel, they played a new song from the album every day [leading up to the release of Mt. Zion], which was cool that they were able to do that.

You also have a top 10 Christian Airplay hit with your Brandon Lake collaboration, “Can’t Steal My Joy.” How did the two of you end up writing that with Hank Bentley and Jacob Sooter?

We met at a radio conference, and he kept saying, “You’re a joy, man.” He kept calling me joy and joyful, and said, “Let’s write a song about joy.” He gave me his number and later I was at my parents’ house, and I wrote that chorus and sent it to him. We wrote it over text message, he was on a tractor cutting his lawn. Honestly, it was a big compliment that he said he saw that joy in me. The line that really hit me when we were writing it was, “What the world couldn’t give me, it can’t take away.” It’s a fun one to play live, and having Brandon on it, that’s just the cherry on top.

What other songs from the new project have you seen really connect with fans?

“Meaning of Life.” That one I did not expect for fans to relate, but when I ask, “What’s your favorite song on the album?” that one comes up. My fanbase just enjoys songs that are really rooted in the Bible and that’s from Ecclesiastes, where King Solomon has everything, a palace, he’s rich. But he says it’s meaningless. He’s like, “You can toil, you can work and do all these things…” We try to do things, even me. Sure, I can make a No. 1 Christian album, but somebody else can come and do that. Like the song says, “I don’t want to live just to die and miss the meaning of this life,” and it seems like people are kind of relating to that one, too.