The challenge of making music that is danceable, unique, soulful and totally live is what sets Papa Josh apart from other solo performers.   His loop based show features Josh on drums, bass, guitar, percussion and vocals. He performs everything live, recording layer after layer to create one hell of a dance party. Papa Josh's ultimate mission is to bring people together, use music to broaden life's horizons and create unforgettable experiences.

Recently  Josh was picked up by  Pacific Coast funktronika sensation BLUSIRKUT.  Both Papa Josh and BLUSIRKUT are in the process of recording and  hope to have new albums out by the end of the year.    BluSIRKUT features friend and former Global Funk drummer Ryan Krieger, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe players David Veith on keyboards and Chris 'CD' Littlefield on trumpet, Papa Josh on guitar and bass, and the amazing eye candy from Allman Brothers and Doors Reunion Band visualist, Alton 'Brooks' Parker. 

Papa Josh was born Josh Suhrheinrich in Bloomington, Indiana, a small college town with a surprisingly vibrant music scene. He picked up the guitar at age nine and immediately started writing music and learning to play rock and roll. By age sixteen, Josh was fronting his own band and playing rock and blues in local clubs. Then, straight out of left field, the sophisticated melodies of John Coltrane and the irresistable funk grooves of James Brown infected Josh's ears, steering him down a new and diverse musical path.

Josh pursued his various musical loves in his own original projects, funk bands, jazz groups and blues bands while studying at Indiana University. He performed with Arturo Sandoval and former Wes Montgomery bandmate Alonzo "Pookie" Johnson. During this time, Josh's creative desires, inner conflicts, spiritual needs and thirst for adventure also led to a three year study of kundalini yoga and life in an ashram. The unanswerable questions of this period would eventually find release in the compositions of Papa Josh.

Josh eventually received a scholarship to pursue a master's degree in jazz with world reknown guitarist Fareed Haque (Garaj Mahal, Sting) at Northern Illinois University, just west of Chicago. Josh continued to perform and tour with various groups and recorded a studio album with his Chicago based acid jazz group Soul Slipper (featuring  Winton Marsalis and Lincoln City Orchestra pianist Dan Nimmer).  

After completing his studies he was picked up by San Francisco based Funk/jazz/Jam band Global Funk Council and spent over two years touring North America,  playing  over 400 shows  through every major  city  in the US.   He recorded the 2004 album Bogo with Global Funk and, by the end of the year, moved to Whistler,BC to follow his heart.  Josh got married, had a baby boy, Idris, and lived blissfully on the beaches of Mexico and various places in between in a blue VW van with his family, until the Fall of 2006 when he settled into Pemberton, BC and slowly conjured up the Papa Josh - Funk'N'Grooves project which is the focus of his musical life.