Josh Kelley: Chillin' on the Road

Singer/songwriter Josh Kelley's album "For the Ride Home" came out in the Spring but his hit song "Amazing" is still high on the charts. His songs have been featured on "Dawson's Creek" and "Alias". He toured with Third Eye Blind and opened recently for Dave Matthews. He'll be touring with Jewel starting the 19th of September through October 18th. The 23-year-old Georgia native writes songs from his heart. The musician was at the University of Mississippi playing golf and majoring in graphic arts while writing and recording his own songs on the side. He heard the kids in the dorm burning CD's for "the ride home" at Spring break and decided that would be the title and theme of his debut CD.

In the early days of Napster, Kelley was able to record his songs, compress them onto MP3 files and upload them to Napster where he went online and spam mailed people who liked artists who sounded a bit like him. It paid off bigtime. Incredibly, a major record company A&R rep, got one of the blind messages and checked Josh out! Now, we can all listen to Josh's heartfelt love songs, fun road ditties and great guitar licks!

I spoke with the singer/songwriter when he was in Los Angeles recently for a t.v. appearance.

TeenMusic: Gotta ask. You must have taken some wild road trips. Can you tell me about a really memorable one?

Josh: Spring Break of two years ago, me and my buddy had no clue what we were gonna do for Spring Break. We said, 'Let's just freakin' get in the car and drive'. We started from Oxford, Mississippi, the University of Mississippi and we went all the way to like North Carolina and down to Charleston, South Carolina. We saw a bunch of crazy stuff and listened to a bunch of cool music. Even my demos. My buddy really liked a band called Mo. We stopped at random friends' houses. 'Look, we're comin' in. Can we crash for a night?' We ended up going through where I grew up and back to Oxford. It was just fun.

TeenMusic: If you had to burn a special CD for your own "ride home", what would be on it?

Josh: Some new music I'm listening to is this new band called Super Furry Animals. They're awesome. Like Pink Floyd meets the Beach Boys or something. Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright would be on there, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder. My bass player Tom Fruend, is an incredible singer/songwriter. I'm really into his music.

TeenMusic: You used the internet and Napster to get started in a kind of unorthodox way. Would you recommend other singer/songwriters use the net?

Josh: Things have changed a lot. I knew that I wasn't going to overdo it. Kids nowadays will hear something like that and maybe try to overspam people and the next thing you know you're becoming a nuisance. When I was doing it, I was kind of chiming in like a buddy saying, 'I can tell you like this kind of music, so try this guy named Josh Kelley' and made it like it wasn't me sending it. Napster was small at the time and I just kind of used it as a tool. I didn't really download or steal any music. If I looked for other people's music, I would look for independent artists who needed exposure.

I was more of a helping situation. I used that and MP3.com to my advantage and it worked.

TeenMusic: So who actually discovered you and first signed you?

Josh: Eric Clinger discovered me. He was one of my random instant messages. He had just downloaded Napster and had no clue how to instant message and he had to ask his wife. He listened to the songs and sent me a message back saying 'this is great. Who is this?' And I was like 'dude, it's me!' He worked at Sony Records at the time. The guy was a true A&R guy. Now he works for Hollywood Records and he's my A&R guy. He only cares about music, not his own success which is unbelievable. I've had very good luck. It's hard to get anywhere without a certain amount of it.

TeenMusic: Fave track on the new album?

Josh: It changes all the time but my favorite track is "Poker Face", the last track on the album. It's a really chill, jazz song. I wanted to show people my more artistic side. Stuff I kind of do in my own home studio when I'm away from the commercial end of it all.

TeenMusic: You play a lot of instruments. Which ones well and which badly?

Josh: If there are some that I'm totally not proficient at, I won't play them or won't play it live. The ones I think I'm really good at are drums, guitar, bass and piano, harmonica. I think there's a certain musical sense in me. I think it's in everybody, it's just whether you have the passion or the patience. Nobody had to ever tell me to do anything with music. I just do it on my own.

TeenMusic: Are you from a musical family?

Josh: Oh yeah. I grew up playing with my older and younger brothers. They both play instruments. It was a perfect thing. I had a band called Inside Blue when I was little.

TeenMusic: How was touring with Third Eye Blind? Any wild tour stories you can relate?

Josh: We did six weeks with Third Eye Blind. It was my first tour. We were the opening act and they treated us really well. They were all really nice. Sometimes it's a blur because you are craving for sleep. Sometimes, I'd be on stage and the crowd would be going crazy and I'd just take out my little disposable camera and just take a picture of them while I was playing. I've got some really cool pictures like that. It was crazy. We were traveling in a big 15 passenger van. We would get most excited when we would see a gas station and knew we could actually stop and chill and look for crazy stuff.

TeenMusic: What's great and what sucks about touring?

Josh: What sucks about it is that I'm a big homebody. I love my studio. The great thing about it is you get to see the world. (at this point Josh excuses himself to go to the door and get the sandwich he ordered but, politely, won't eat until we're finished). Anyway, I'm traveling, seeing the world and creating all these new relationships and some of them are going to withstand the test of time, some will be immediate. I've learned how to work with people and work a crowd. It's all positive. You do get really tired. The other guys get to sleep after a show and I might have to go to radio stations but it's okay.

TeenMusic: What do you do to kick back while touring?

Josh: I'll just chill at the pool for a couple of days but when I'm home I'm either playing golf or in my home studio making new songs. I consider myself more of a producer than a live performer even though our live show is, I think, really solid.

TeenMusic: In your song "Everybody Wants You" you address the problems of being in the public eye. What do you do to keep your head straight about fame?

Josh: I just try to make sure that I hold on to things that my parents have taught me. I was brought up really well and I was brought up in a Southern environment and nothings going to shake that. I don't think I'm going to let anything go to my head. I get embarrassed too easily if somebody picks up my bag and carries it for me.

TeenMusic: What's been your wildest or most unusual fan encounter so far?

Josh: Recently I played a Birmingham show. We opened up for O.A.R. and this fan and his girlfriend who are both on the message board all the time, drove twelve hours to come see me open up for a band. The message boards are blowing up. Someone has made a Josh Kelley fan site. Kids are swapping pictures. I'm trying to find the really bad ones.

TeenMusic: Who are you dying to do a duet with?

Josh: I think I'd like to do one with Dana Glover. I think her voice is incredible.

TeenMusic: What is your songwriting process? Words first or music?

Josh: Most of the time I'll write the music first and the words later, unless I'm inspired by words first then I'll write the chorus. I try to write the chorus first then the progression of the song then write the lyrics. Usually on a guitar or piano.

TeenMusic: What is the weirdest object you've ever written a lyric or music down on?

Josh: I've written lyrics on my ex-girlfriend's shoulder while driving in the car with a sharpie and I was like 'oh my God, what do I do?' She was wearing a tank top and I saw her tan little arm there, and thought 'I've got to write this down'. She can't wash it off forever too. It was a really good marker.

TeenMusic: What would you like to do on an Ideal date?

Josh: Because of all the confusion that's going on for me right now, an ideal date would be going to a cool water park. I don't know if that would be an ideal date but that's where I take my date right now if I had one.

TeenMusic: Any interest in appearing in movies or t.v.?

Josh: At some point, I realize now that I'm so comfortable with t.v. that I definitely can. I got my colorful personality from my mom so I think it's possible. Maybe some appearances. I'm not pushing for that unless something just happens.

TeenMusic: What would you be doing if not singing?

Josh: I would still be in college and I'd be finishing up my graphic design major and making music in graphics. I designed a bunch of my demo album covers and helped design this one and just finished designing my tee-shirts. I've got a bunch of paintings I'm putting together that one day I'm going to try to show.

TeenMusic: What song (anybody's) would be the theme song of your life?

Josh: "Don't You Worry About a Thing" by Stevie Wonder.

TeenMusic: Who have you seen in concert recently?

Josh: I saw the Jayhawks recently and thought they were really good. That was in Minneapolis. I thought it was a tight, chill concert. They didn't try too much. 'Here's our music. If you like it, then here. If you don't get out'.

TeenMusic: There is a trend away from manufactured pop and in favor of the singer/songwriter. Do you have any comment on it?

Josh: I think I got really lucky in my timing. I was writing songs before I heard of your Mraz's and Mayers and people like that. It was like wow, these songs already fit. This was never something I was really shooting for. It just happened.

TeenMusic: How old were you when you wrote your first song and what was it about?

Josh: I think I was really young. Probably like in 9th grade, 14 or 15 and I was probably writing about a girlfriend. All I really knew at the time.

TeenMusic: What's the best advice you were ever given and who gave it to you?

Josh: Some of the best advice is my mom telling me to always be a gentleman in any situation. I think it's true. In some situations where I wanted to tell somebody off, I was a gentleman and it was the kill them with kindness kind of thing and they'll realize their mistakes. That's always worked for me. I've just been chill.

TeenMusic: You write about a lot of relationship subjects. Is there anything too personal for you to write a song about?

Josh: I'm never going to write a song about anything that happens between the sheets. My songwriting has been changing recently. I've been on the road so I've had something to write about.

TeenMusic: Some people say you and Jason Mraz are kind of similar. What do you say to that?

Josh: Well our CD's are lightyears different. His is more like R&B funk based and mine is more chill. His voice sounds a little more high-pitched and mine is a little lower. I think we're pretty opposite. I get more comparisons to John Mayer and James Taylor.

TeenMusic: Any statement to fans?

Josh: For those of you who bought the album, thank you so much. For those of you that haven't, give it a shot and open your minds and I think you'll find something new.

Okay, Josh. Go eat that sandwich now.

Visit Josh's website at http://hollywoodrecords.go.com/joshkelley.