For all the attention and all the fan mail he's received, Josh remains a down-to-earth young man. "I don't see myself as a celebrity at all," he says. "I'm very shy and not all that self-confident, and I feel like an ordinary person, a normal guy who's very approachable. And if I get a little carried away," he adds with a laugh, "I've got my wife to keep me humble and bring me back down to earth."
Meanwhile, he is savoring every moment, and the once-irresponsible youngster has turned a pop-culture TV contest into something much more substantial. "The night I was voted off, I pulled my daughter up on stage," he says. "That was not something that was scripted. It was just something I did. I had done a lot of growing in the past few years, and I wanted to show her that it's possible to go from where I had been to where I was then, and that someday she would be able to do the same if she'd try hard. And if she ever doubts that, I can just pop in the tape and say, 'There you are on stage with me.' I'm no longer just some kid with a dream. I'm a father and husband and this has turned into an accomplishment and an experience that's going to help me raise my daughter and show her what's possible."
Along the way, he'll be sharing the dream and the reality with country fans everywhere.