Joseph Stephens On Writing Music For “Upload,” “The Righteous Gemstones” & Other TV Shows, Influences, Creativity & More

Created, written and executive produced by Danny McBride (HBO’s Vice Principals and Eastbound & Down), and marking his third HBO comedy series from Rough House Pictures, The Righteous Gemstones tells the story of a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed and charitable work. Season two — which premiered on HBO earlier this year — finds the blessed Gemstone family threatened by outsiders from both the past and present who wish to destroy their empire. Jody Hill and David Gordon Green also serve as executive producers and directors.

Joseph Stephens is the man behind the music of The Righteous Gemstones. Milan Records is the record label behind Original Series Soundtrack to Season 2 of The Righteous Gemstones, as featuring both instrumental score music and original vocal songs written by Stephens. The resulting 50-track collection reflects this expansiveness, ranging from synth-heavy instrumentals punctuated by operatic choral voices, distant whispers and manipulated tape machines to original worship songs and Christian Rock parodies. The original vocal songs featured on the album were written primarily by Stephens and feature vocal contributions from Joe Jonas (as himself), Jennifer Nettles (as Aimee-Leigh Gemstone), Edi Patterson (as Judy Gemstone), Danny McBride (as Jesse Gemstone), Adam DeVine (as Kelvin Gemstone) and Walton Goggins (as Baby Billy Freeman), to name a few key contributors.

On April 6, 2022, I had the pleasure of speaking with Joseph Stephens via Zoom, as embedded below. Beyond his work on The Righteous Gemstones, we spoke about his other credits as a composer (e.g. Prime Video’s Upload, TBS’ The Last O.G.), his background as a musician, his creativity process, and musical influences. More on Stephens and his music can be found by clicking here, here and here.

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Tags: Amazon, Danny McBride, Eastbound & Down, HBO, Joseph Stephens, Milan Records, The Righteous Gemstones, Upload

About the Author

Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."