The Eugene-based musician, now almost 21, has been writing and recording songs since he was a kid. But unlike most, Josh Dillabaugh — who performs under the moniker TheJStandsForJosh — duets with old recordings of his pre-transition voice. The result is a vulnerable and striking fusion of past and present that reclaims both identity and sound.
Dillabaugh’s sound defies easy categorization. He experiments with screamo, industrial, distorted guitar tracks, electronic music, rap and what he calls “singer-songwriter stuff,” or simply “just singing alone in my bedroom.”
With a day — well, night — job as a graveyard line cook at Taco Bell, he pushes past countless barriers to be a working musician who is also trans.
“And I would love to be able to do music full-time, but I’m not there yet,” Dillabaugh says.
He has a special relationship with music — something he’s been creating since he was just 13 years old.
“Being a young kid at the time when I was making songs and covers with my old voice, I was going through this kind of mindset of like, I’m faking being trans,” Dillabaugh says. “All these years later, it obviously wasn’t a phase.”
Trans artists are often forced into a false choice — between their voice and their identity. Dillabaugh pushes back on that idea, choosing instead to collaborate with the voice he once felt disconnected from. His music doesn’t erase the past; it honors it.
“I’m giving that power kind of back to myself,” he says.
“I think I’m very lucky to be kind of where I’m at with my transition,” he continues, “and where I’m at with my mental health today versus when I was a kid.”
Dillabaugh’s music is like a self-portrait in motion — layered, raw and deeply real. Though he admits the process can be unsettling, even “kind of scary,” it’s also healing. By singing with his former self, Dillabaugh confronts the imposter syndrome and confusion he felt as a kid and transforms it into something new.
On Instagram and YouTube he shares clips, demos and personal vlogs — all self-produced from his bedroom. On Spotify, where he’s a verified artist with over a thousand monthly listeners, and his following continues to grow.
“I just write about what I’m feeling. That’s what I’ve been doing since I was a kid,” he says.
Inspired by bands like Twenty One Pilots and The Front Bottoms, Dillabaugh is still emerging as a public artist — but both his voices, old and new, are already telling a story that’s entirely his own.
Dillabaugh makes his acoustic debut 7 pm Thursday, June 26, at First Christian Church, 1166 Oak Street. The show will also double as a celebration of his 21st birthday. His music is available on Spotify by searching TheJStandsForJosh, as well as Instagram and YouTube.