Singer Josh Kelley Has Plenty of ‘Special Company’

For singer-songwriter Josh Kelley, life just keeps getting better and better. With his fourth album, Special Company, climbing the charts, the Augusta, Ga. native is hard pressed to wipe the huge smile from his face. After years of songwriting and life on the road, he knows it can only continue to go up from here.

“For the Ride Home came out in 2003 and I’ve just been getting better every year,” the 28-year-old Kelley says of the strides he’s made since one of his first releases. “[I’ve become] a better musician, better singer, better writer and a better entertainer for sure, and that’s what’s supposed to happen, hopefully.”

Kelley’s musical progression is evident in this latest release, his fourth, from its sophisticated bluesy sound to the impressive record sales in the first couple weeks of its unveiling. An album inspired by one simple concept, it is infectious in its honesty and soul.

“This album is about unconditional love. It’s about someone that just completes you,” says Kelley, whose musical start can perhaps be traced to the guitar he received from his mom at age 11.

Tracks like “Tidal Wave” and “Hey Katie” give listeners a glimpse into Kelley’s intense love for his wife, “Grey’s Anatomy” actress Katherine Heigl, whom he met on the set of his video “Only You” a few years ago. Unafraid to lay it all on the line, Kelley approaches every note in each song with conviction. Influenced by life not only as a newlywed, he says he looks to each day’s randomness for song ideas too.

“Anything and everything influences me musically,” says Kelley, an idol of Motown legend Stevie Wonder. “You know it could be a grasshopper falling into some kid’s ice cream cone. I’ll start with a chord progression on the piano, hum to it, and then words start to formulate and become the theme of the song.”

Writing is something that has always come naturally to Kelley, whether he’s sitting at the piano or on the road with his guitar in tow. Expressing himself through music and lyrics is without a doubt a necessity.

“When you’re a songwriter your albums are basically free therapy, whatever you wanna talk about can be on there,” he explains. “The song ‘Almost Honest’ was inspired in Chicago. I was dating a different girl at the time and I almost did something I regretted, so I wrote a song about it, like personal therapy.”

From therapy jam sessions to just getting a good laugh, Kelley has the talent for it all. He went to college at the University of Mississippi, plays a mean game of golf, and has the skills to solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than two minutes. Between that and his comical video blogs, the singer’s fans have access to all sides of him, serious and playful.

“People have access to almost everything and anything nowadays, so I think the smart way to do it is develop a relationship with fans,” he says. “A little paragraph to let them know what’s going on with you lets them know that you’re human, and not an alien.”

Perhaps it’s a tad alien for someone to solve a Rubik’s Cube in two minutes, but we’ll let that one slide — as long as he continues to pump out feel-good songs for years to come.

“I’ll always write songs,” he says. “And put out Josh Kelley albums. But eventually, years from now, I’ll start producing more so that I’m home when we start having kids.”

The aspiring family fan, who married Heigl in Park City, Utah in December, says he also has dreams of extending his writing talents to television and film.

“I used to write a lot of poetry, and I have a few short stories,” Kelley says. “I’ve dabbled in writing scripts. I have a friend who’s a writer and we come up with ideas for TV shows and pitch them. We have one hopefully coming out next year about misfit kids that work for the Four Seasons Hotel in L.A.”

In the midst of all his aspirations, Kelley remains grateful to be doing what he knows best — music.

“I get to travel all over the country and see the world. It makes you a better person, it makes you smart, it makes you more passionate,” he says. “I get to become a part of something that most people don’t get to [experience].”

For more on Josh Kelley, be sure to visit his official website — JoshKelley.com