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Saturday, 24 December, 2011 11:19 AM
Josh Kelley Offers Advice to
New Artists (CMA)
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Photo
credit: Cheyenne Ellis
New
country music star Josh Kelley
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| By
Lorie Hollabaugh |
| ©
2011 CMA Close Up News Service |
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Josh Kelley had to travel
quite a few musical miles around the country before he landed smack
dab back in the “Georgia Clay” that had fertilized his
sound and music so many years before. The Augusta native landed
a pop deal out of college and was immediately propelled into the
frenetic L.A. music scene, where he recorded a couple of projects
and enjoyed chart hits like “Amazing” before deciding
his soul and his musical heart were really rooted closer to home.
Kelley learned plenty of lessons along the way during those early
years of recording, many of which he shared readily with brother
Charles of Lady Antebellum, and he recalls those years when he was
“molded” into something more marketable for the pop
world before listening to his own intuition and setting out on his
own to make the music he felt would appeal to his growing number
of fans.
“I was told very
early in my career when I got signed to a pop deal, that all the
things I loved when I was a kid weren’t cool, so I wasn’t
allowed to talk about them -- like sports,” he said. “I
played Division 1 golf in college, and I wasn’t allowed to
talk about that because they didn’t think it was cool. It
was weird. It was an interesting time where I kind of went into
it all alone. Nobody in my family had treaded those waters before,
so they were uncharted, and I just went into it full steam. I quit
college, and I told my dad I was gonna move out to L.A. and give
it a shot. So it was fun to do, but you learn over time who not
to believe and who to believe, and who to listen to -- and to take
everything with a grain of salt!”
Another lesson Josh offers
budding young singers is to pace yourself in your career and never
overprice your live show or take advantage monetarily of your fans.
“Country fans pay to go see shows, and when I went grassroots
and started touring a lot, it was people who pay to go see music
who came out to support me. And what I‘ve noticed in the Country
world is when a show comes to town, it’s an event for Country
fans. For some reason with the pop world, it’s like they could
take it or leave it, it’s just another thing they could go
to, and a lot of times they’re not willing to spend the money
on the art. You know, we’re like a traveling circus coming
through town, and this is what we feel like the live show is worth.
And I’ve never overpriced any of my tickets to my shows in
my whole career, because it’s all about long-term. There’s
no use gouging people who you want to invest in you long-term.”
The “Georgia Clay”
singer says a final key lesson he can offer struggling young artists
eager to make their mark on the industry is to focus on the craft
first and foremost, instead of getting lured in by the flash and
glitz of stardom, which can often be elusive and fleeting.
“My biggest advice
to those new artists just starting out is that slow and steady wins
the race. Make sure you’re writing great songs. Because if
you’re just basically chasing celebrity or some sort of stardom,
it’s not gonna work…it never does. It has to be your
passion. You can’t kid yourself about it.”
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