Biography

Josh Kelley is a singer-songwriter who was born and raised in Augusta, Georgia. He began his musical odyssey at the age of 11 with a guitar. He later formed a band with his younger brother, Charles, during his teenage years called Inside Blue. At 14, the band released a five-song CD that struck the attention of a major label and led him to meeting James Brown on more than a few occasions.

Arriving at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi, he had initial aspirations of being an art major, while also being a very capable golfer and a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

Kelley released his indie album Changing Faces in 2001, signing with Hollywood in 2002. Working with John Alagia as his producer, Kelley released For The Ride Home in 2003. He also made an appearance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2003. The song “Everybody Wants You” was recommended to be written by a friend to not forget who he is, while “Amazing” was possibly his first critically acclaimed hit.

Josh Kelley’s 2011 record, Georgia Clay, was his first Country album; his previous work was more pop. Speaking with Songfacts in a 2011 interview, Kelley explained that Gone Like That was the song that actually started his journey into Country music. He said: “I had written and presented it to my music publisher to pitch to other artists, but they liked my demo so much they encouraged me to cut it. It was the first song I wrote that gave me the confidence to pursue a career as a Country singer.”

His musical guise can be recognized akin to Jack Johnson, John Mayer, or Ben Harper.

Kelley remains a supporter of Napster-like sharing peer to peer applications for independent artists who have a difficult time receiving an audience. In fact, Kelley was “found” after accidentally targeting Eric Clinger at Hollywood Records with private spam messages using the Napster program.