“Put down the phones, turn off the AI.”

With that opening command, Josh Christina makes his intentions immediately clear on his forthcoming single, “Rock Revival.” The track, featuring Chuck Berry’s grandson Charlie Berry III, is both a celebration of rock ’n’ roll’s foundations and a pointed response to a musical landscape increasingly shaped by technology.

Set for release on August 14,2026, the year that marks the centennial of Chuck Berry’s birth, “Rock Revival” carries the rhythm, wit and kinetic energy of early rock ’n’ roll into the present. Christina wrote the song using references to Berry’s recordings, characters and stories, weaving them into a modern hook intended to connect longtime fans with a generation discovering that musical history for the first time.

“I wanted something that pulled me back to the music I fell in love with as a child,” Christina says. “It needed to pay tribute to the true father of rock ’n’ roll while also calling out the use of AI in music.”

For Christina, the concern is not technology itself, but what can be lost when efficiency begins replacing human expression.

“There is something raw and real about true rock ’n’ roll,” he explains. “It isn’t perfect or exact, but it has an honest feeling and personality. AI can offer a lot to society in areas like medicine and science, but when it comes to an art form, I feel it should stay out. It has its place, but not in music.”

That sense of conviction has defined Christina’s career. Born and raised in Baltimore County, Maryland, the independent singer, songwriter and pianist has built his sound around a collision of early rock ’n’ roll, blues, country and R&B. His most enduring influences are Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry and their sound can be heard in his music, but Christina has spent years transforming those inspirations into a style of his own.

He describes an artist’s development as a three part journey, inspiration, emulation and innovation.

“We all get inspired, and then we try to sound exactly like what inspired us,” he says. “At some point, you begin making it your own through your writing or your playing. There will always be pieces of your influences, but they eventually carry your own taste.”

Christina’s introduction to rock ’n’ roll arrived unexpectedly when he was 7 years old and heard Elvis Presley’s music in Disney’s Lilo & Stitch. The experience sent him searching through the history of 1950s rock. Years later, a Broadway performance of Million Dollar Quartet persuaded him to take up the piano after he watched Levi Kreis, portraying Jerry Lee Lewis, kick away his bench and leap onto the instrument.

“I went home and started figuring out the piano,” Christina recalls.

Berry’s catalog eventually inspired him to begin writing songs of his own. That personal history makes Charlie Berry III’s presence on “Rock Revival” especially meaningful.

Christina and Berry connected through social media before Berry traveled to Baltimore to perform with him. Conversations about commemorating Chuck Berry’s centennial led Christina to write the new single.

“Charlie is such a talented musician in his own right,” Christina says. “There is no one I’ve heard who can make a guitar sound like his grandfather’s the way he can. He has the feel and the timing, it truly feels inherited. He brought a genuine rock ’n’ roll spirit to the record.”

Rather than constructing a museum piece, Christina wanted “Rock Revival” to function as a living song. Listeners familiar with Chuck Berry’s music will recognize the lyrical references, while those without that context can encounter it as a contemporary rock ’n’ roll track.

It is a balance Christina has navigated throughout his career. His six project catalog includes 2024’s UFOs Over Phoenixand the 2026 concert album Live, Raw and Rockin’ in Lewes, DE! He has appeared on Ireland’s The Late Late Show, recorded at Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis and worked with Grammy winning songwriter and producer Jon Carroll, as well as longtime Dolly Parton producer Kent Wells. He has also brought his “Piano Rock Through the Ages” show to audiences aboard major cruise lines.

Onstage, Christina makes the piano as visual as it is musical. He stands on it, plays beneath it and uses the instrument as the center of a physical, high energy performance.

“When you’re a piano player fronting a band, you’re stuck behind this big chunk of wood, so you have to make it part of the show,” he says. “Older generations connect it to Jerry Lee Lewis or Elton John, while a younger generation sees something that feels completely new to them.”

That newness is essential to Christina’s belief that early rock ’n’ roll still has a future. He is not attempting to reproduce the 1950s or ignore the social inequities that defined the period. What he wants to recover is the spontaneity, sincerity and cultural force of music made with an unmistakably human pulse.

“These artists weren’t simply writing to manufacture the next hit,” he says. “They were writing what they felt and putting their souls into it. Rock ’n’ roll brought people together during a time of segregation and enormous cultural turmoil. People looked beyond racial and cultural differences and bonded over the music. That is why I believe it remains so powerful.”

The song’s message also reaches beyond the recording studio. Christina hopes its invitation to “put down the phones” will encourage listeners to reconnect with the freedom, movement and shared experience embedded in Chuck Berry’s music.

“Maybe if we unplugged from social media, got back to loving life and looked around us, we would all be a little happier,” he says. “Rock ’n’ roll changed culture, fashion and the music industry. When you listen to Chuck’s music, you can still feel that power.”

Christina will extend the tribute on Oct. 17 at The Collective Encore in Columbia, Maryland, where the Josh Christina Band will anchor a celebration of what would have been Chuck Berry’s 100th birthday. The event is set to feature Charlie Berry III, fellow Berry grandson Jahi Eskridge, former Chuck Berry pianist and bandleader Daryl Davis, and artists from the Washington, D.C., region.

Christina expects “Rock Revival” to receive its first live performance that evening, surrounded by Berry’s family, former collaborators and the songs that reshaped popular music.

“I hope the night reminds people of the influence Chuck had on modern music and culture,” Christina says. “It’s going to be filled with the hits, some deep cuts, stories and raw rock ’n’ roll.”

Although “Rock Revival” is rooted in history, Christina considers it a statement of forward motion. As an independent musician, he has maintained control of his sound through international television appearances, recordings, touring, and hundreds of live performances. That freedom has allowed him to place the piano at the center of his work at a time when piano-fronted rock bands have largely receded from popular music.

What gives him confidence is what happens when he takes that music in front of an audience.

“People connect with authenticity,” Christina says. “If the passion comes through and you stay true to yourself, what you’re doing will shine. Because this style isn’t heard as often anymore, some of its elements actually feel new to younger listeners. I see that at shows all over the world.”

With “Rock Revival,” Christina is not asking listeners to retreat into the past. He is inviting them to remember what rock ’n’ roll sounded like when it was unpredictable, unpolished and powerful enough to change the culture and then imagine what that spirit might accomplish next.