Josh Van De Riet, a denizen of Radford, is blessed with a musical inclination. Van De Riet recently published recordings of his instrumentals on MySpace. He’ll soon be netting listeners with live performances and an album of original material.

He’s also my neighbor. I’ve given him toilet paper.

Yes, I am attempting to ride my talented neighbor’s coattails by playing the proximity angle. However, being the misanthrope that I am, I wouldn’t just ride any coattails. Van De Riet is a hell of a musician. I didn’t just loan anyone toilet paper: I loaned toilet paper to a resonant, new musical presence in the NRV.

My neighbor has been playing guitar since he was a sprite. “I’ve been playing guitar for longer than I even remember,” Van De Riet said. “I was watching my brother play guitar, and music was always a part of the household.”

He discovered his zeal for performing when he and his brother Jack attended parties together. “I fell into it in a lot of ways, where I would be at a party with my brother and people would be like, ‘Josh! Josh! Play guitar!’ I wouldn’t go there to play guitar, and then I’d be playing with Jack, and people would really like it. It just sort of happened like that. It was something we were always very comfortable doing.”

Josh’s collaboration with Jack continued as part of Blame James, which was a cornerstone of the New River Valley’s college music scene. Until this year, the band was a regular draw at BT’s in Radford and performed in Blacksburg and beyond. But when members of the band moved away from the NRV recently, Blame James was disbanded.

Van De Riet said he misses performing. He considers performing the heart of music. “Watching live performance was always a part of why I love music. It’s different than going to the movies, because you never get to see those people.” Music, Van De Riet said, is different. Music involves the audience like no other medium can.

He regards his foray into live performance a natural progression. “Music is fascinating. It’s always different, it’s always amazing.” His genuine love for sharing music is evident in his disdain for bands like Linkin Park and so-called “emo” music: “I refuse to listen to it. Throw that away. I just don’t like music that’s incredibly self-indulgent.” Music shouldn’t be concerned with the musician’s feelings, but with the listeners’ desire to disconnect from the real world and respond to art.

Van De Riet’s view of music is founded not in the creator, but in the audience. His ultimate goal, he says, is to create an album that belongs more to the listeners than to himself. “Within the next five years, I would like to have the opportunity to ask the listeners to write their own poetry—I want them to write the songs for me, I want them to take the pictures, I want them to do everything and design the entire album by themselves. All I will do is play the music.”

While his idea of an audience-created album looms in the horizon, Van De Riet is currently recording a CD of original material for distribution within the NRV. The album will be released by Soft Knee Records, with Van De Riet hoping for a release in mid-summer. “I’d like to have in the liner notes things I’ve written,” he said of the upcoming album. “There’s no lyrics, no singing. It’s just a solo acoustic guitar. But I’d like poetry that I’ve written in the liner notes. I think that gives the people listening an opportunity to get a better idea of what’s going on in my head.”

Van De Riet hopes to use the CD to promote his solo performances in the NRV. He’s not overly concerned with attracting an audience, because the area is already rich in instrumental music. “There’s a lot of acoustic music here, y’know? There’s tons of it. How many bluegrass groups come through here? Doc Watson plays in Radford—it’s huge. And bluegrass is huge, acoustic music is huge.”

While Van De Riet’s music has more of an experimental feel to it, it carries a technical sensibility that should fit right in with the area. “I love the New River Valley,” he said. “I want to be playing here for the rest of my life.”

In addition to his CD, Van De Riet’s music will be available online through iTunes. With his MySpace page, CD, and iTunes tracks, Van De Riet hopes to turn heads in the area. He’s already turned mine. I’m not typically taken to instrumentals, but my neighbor has a style I don’t believe I’ve heard in the NRV. I don’t believe I’ve heard it anywhere.

Van De Riet is a right and rare mix of charisma and technical skill. He’s a performer, through and through. Central to his aspirations is a desire to earn himself an audience. “What I’m asking everybody is, please: get to know me,” he said. “I’d like to get to know you.”

Van De Riet, my neighbor, claims he used the toilet paper I lent him as a new recording tool. “I taped the toilet paper around a ribbon microphone, and then I hung upside down from my roof and recorded me playing guitar behind my head …with babies crying. It was beautiful.” I suspect my neighbor in fact used the result of my philanthropy the same way I usually use it, but I have no proof.

Proximity notwithstanding, Van De Riet is a fantastic musical asset to the NRV. He was terrific in Blame James, and his solo work displays the same pizzazz—perhaps a different pizzazz altogether.

His instrumentals are so natural, you may find yourself in need of a cigarette. If tracks like “The New Math” result in a nicotine fit, Van De Riet recommends Newport cigarettes. “You go to a restaurant, OK? And you’re jones-ing for a steak. They bring out the steak that you’ve ordered, and it’s just … some crêpes. It’s not gonna fill you up right and do you good. But if they come out with a big, beautiful steak—with mashed potatoes—garlic mashed potatoes and a good, cold beer—that’s a Newport. It’s just a better cigarette.”

Charles Smith is a regular columnist for the New River Voice and always has plenty of toilet paper on hand.