Josiah Cephas Weaver, songwriter, composer, Florida businessman, and Virginia rancher, was born to Geneva and Elmer Weaver in the back hills of southern Virginia on October 9th, 1941. When the rest of the world watched as Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese and the Soviet Union was invaded by the Germans, Josiah Cephas picked Granny Smith apples for his mother’s cobblers, swept the dust from his father’s saw mill, walked barefoot to Garden City Elementary School, and skinny-dipped with his brother Maynard in the cool waters of Back Creek. Family, church, school, and work.... these were the “rocks” of young Josiah’s world, but music......that was his life water. The music washed away the dirt of life, immersed him in the language of the hills, and fed his childhood dreams ...and dream he did indeed.

From his earliest memories Josiah sang songs. For almost 60 years Josiah sang songs to entertain just about anyone who would listen. Josiah sang songs to tell stories about life. Josiah sang songs to help him understand himself and others. He always made up his own songs and somewhere along the line he taught himself to play the guitar and piano. To this day he cannot read or write music....never really had a need to learn! On Sunday afternoons, his uncle Brandon would come over with his "ole GEEtar", sit out on the back porch swing, eat fried chicken legs “like they was nothing”..... and the music would flow like the quick current of the nearby Roanoke River. After putting in a long summer day at the sawmill, Josiah and his cousin Price Bandy would drink Orange Crush outside the Hidey Ho country store and sing along with Hank Williams on the radio. On a Saturday night you might find Josiah and Bobby Hylton headed up to Starkey Speedway, cruising in a '37 "Flying 8" Ford coupe. Although the Weaver family home did not have electricity or indoor plumbing during those early years, Josiah's sometimes harsh childhood provided a solid foundation of rock that has fed his flow of music for "'bout near" 6 decades.

Josiah’s childhood ended quickly when at the age 15 he left home....alone.  He did, however, save his hard-earned money and take a Greyhound bus to Tampa, Florida. When he arrived with only a few quarters left in his Wrangler jeans, he walked 20 miles to Clearwater. That first night he slept in a phone booth and never looked back. He found work as a tile-setter apprentice and by the age of 19 started Weaver Tile Company. For the next 20 years, Weaver Tile flourished in central Florida and by the mid-70s Josiah was building warehouses and offices for lease in Clearwater. By 1978, he closed his tile business and set his sights on the development of Weaver Enterprises including Weaver Park, which today includes approximately 400,000 square feet of leased office and warehouse space in Clearwater.

When he is not overseeing Weaver Enterprises, Josiah can often be found at his beloved, 4000 acre WW Ranch near Wytheville, Virginia. On any given day he may be checking on his Hereford and Angus herds, hunting wild turkey or deer, clearing land with his Cat 955 “dozer”, or telling jokes with Jay Hall, the ranch foreman and manager. But every 4th of July you can be sure to find Josiah at the WW Ranch...doing what he loves....doing what flows naturally.......singing and entertaining the people that mean the most to him in the hills of his childhood home.

From his youth to his earliest days in Florida to the present, Josiah's river of music flowed. In fact, when life was the toughest.....when he worked for 36 straight hours laying tile and supervising over 100 employees.....when his much loved wife passed away from cancer......when the future was hard to see.....it was that steady Virginia upbringing, faith in God, and mountain music that carried his soul to the next day......to the next level....and carry him it did.

Looking back, Josiah’s first band was formed in the mid-50s. It was called “The Neptunes” and his songs were released on 45 records. On several occasions The Neptunes were the warm up band for touring shows including Florida performances by Johnny Cash and Conway Twitty. In the 1960s Josiah formed Wild Turkey Music Inc. to record and produce his own songs. In the 1980s he had 12 songs in the top 100 on Cash Box Magazine's country charts. In 1986, Josiah penned a song in memory of an 18 year old friend and soldier, who died in Vietnam. That song, "Salute the Boys of Vietnam", was recognized in the Congressional Record on October 16th, 1986 by Senator Sasser from Tennessee. That same year Josiah and his Mountain Rock Band performed another Wild Turkey hit, “America, God’s People Love You” in St. Petersburg, Florida for Ronald Reagan. In 1991 Josiah was selected as the Top Male Country Vocalist in the independent artist category by Cash Box Magazine. His song, "Girls That Look a Little Like You" from the "Red Wine" compact disc remained number 1 for two consecutive weeks.

If Mountain Rock Music is Josiah’s first passion, NASCAR runs a very close second. In 1988, Josiah owned a NASCAR Thunderbird racecar called the “Music Machine” which attended 3 races that year. His racing theme song, “Feeling Good”, was ranked #83 on the Cash Box charts while his car was being clocked for the Daytona 500! Racing and music are a natural winning combination in Josiah’s world. In 2007 Mountain Rock Music Inc. will sponsor the #58 GrahamFestUSA NASCAR Nextel Cup car driven by James Hylton, Josiah's childhood friend from Franklin County, VA.

Over the years Josiah has written thousands of songs. As a matter of fact, Josiah will just flat tell you he’ll “make you up a song anytime, anyplace about anything.” Today Josiah continues to write and record his own songs with his Mountain Rock Music Band and perform at multiple venues. You may find Josiah singing gospel songs with friends and family at a sunrise Easter service at the WW Ranch, singing for UPARC clients at their annual Omelet Party and Festival of Trees fundraiser, putting on a show with City Commissioners as he hosts the Dunedin Fine Art Center’s Garden Party and the Dunedin Youth Guild’s Holiday Tour of Homes, singing with Donna the Buffalo at Merlefest, or performing from his 1948 Ford truck in the Dunedin Mardi Gras Parade. In January of 2006, Josiah performed at Charlie Daniel’s Charlie-palooza event at the Tampa Seminole Hard Rock Casino and at the Ford Amphitheater. This 16-year-old event raised over $100,000 for the Angelus Home in Holiday, Florida, a residential facility for severely handicapped youth and adults.

Josiah’s newest music passion is GrahamFest, his own music festival held at the Major Graham Mansion estate, located on his WW Ranch in Virginia. Major David Graham was a civil war hero, local businessman, and ironsmith. Don't miss GrahamFestUSA every Labor Day weekend!

Mountain Rock Music, like the cool refreshing water from the springs of the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains, feeds our hunger for the music of our roots, the music that reminds us of what is right and good in America. Josiah’s Mountain Rock Music celebrates our rich past and quenches our thirst for the sounds and messages of our land.

“Give Me One More Song.....let’s sing along. Listen to the sounds....give me one more song.” ("Give Me One More Song" from "Winning Colors," released September 2005)