Speaker 1: What's up everybody? Why do I always feel the need
Speaker 1: to start shows like speaking differently than I normally do,
Speaker 1: like with like a different energy. What's up everybody? I
Speaker 1: don't ever talk I never talked like that? Why am
Speaker 1: I talking like that? So you gotta start it differently
Speaker 1: or weird or fun or something. I don't know. Why
Speaker 1: don't I just be like, Okay, here we go, because
Speaker 1: that's that's myself. I don't know, I'm overthinking it. Hey.
Speaker 1: By the way, the Hills are coming back. And for
Speaker 1: a lot of you out there, you might not remember,
Speaker 1: but the beginning of this show was actually not called
Speaker 1: the Wells Cast. It was called the Pratt Cast because
Speaker 1: Stephanie Pratt of The Hills had her own podcast. Steph
Speaker 1: being Steph my Heart, had had asked if I would
Speaker 1: help co host a show with her with you know,
Speaker 1: my radio background, kind of keep her between the mustard
Speaker 1: and the mayonnaise, keep things on track, if you will.
Speaker 1: But then Steph left the show, moved to London. She go,
Speaker 1: but the show is coming back. The Hills are coming
Speaker 1: back with some even bigger names apparentl So we're talking
Speaker 1: about it, like what do we do here? Do we continue?
Speaker 1: Doing the Wells Cast. We bring back some of the
Speaker 1: Pratt Cast. We changed the name over to the Hills Cast,
Speaker 1: Like what do we do? And I think paying homage
Speaker 1: to the genesis of this show. We gotta do a
Speaker 1: little bit of Hillstock even though the person who you
Speaker 1: know was on the show was no longer on this show.
Speaker 1: It's whatever. We're gonna do it long Diet Tribe to
Speaker 1: tell you the next week we're going to have a
Speaker 1: Drey No, that's right now, we're gonna talk about Hills
Speaker 1: season two coming back. All right, let's get out with
Speaker 1: the show wrote it. This is a Wells Cast with
Speaker 1: Wells Adams and I heart radio podcast. Welcome into the
Speaker 1: Wells Cast. I'm your host, Wells Adams. Anyways, super pumped
Speaker 1: about this show. And I'll tell you what. The guy
Speaker 1: that's coming on today as a very similar story to mine.
Speaker 1: He grew up playing golf as a kid, went the
Speaker 1: same college as I did, moved to Nashville after college
Speaker 1: just like I did, got super lucky in some how
Speaker 1: was able to trick a famous beautiful actress into being
Speaker 1: with them. Were like the same person, We're cut from
Speaker 1: the same cloth. Now is he more talented? Than me.
Speaker 1: Yes is my mother reminded me of that every time
Speaker 1: we speak. Yeah, am I working it out with my therapist? Maybe?
Speaker 1: Probably not though, because we got bigger problems. This guy's
Speaker 1: been doing it for a long time. Absolutely amazing musician.
Speaker 1: He got offered a record deal when he was like fourteen.
Speaker 1: You have to meet James Brown back then. His mainstream
Speaker 1: debut for The Ride Home found a top five single
Speaker 1: with Amazing, and his second album, Almost Honest, included a
Speaker 1: top ten single Only You. He's appeared on the Today show,
Speaker 1: Good Morning America, Ellen DeGeneres, That's the Night Show at
Speaker 1: Jay Leno Lie with Regis and Kelly, Rachel Ray, Last Call.
Speaker 1: I mean literally, the dude has done everything. Oh yeah.
Speaker 1: He also wrote the theme song for Mike and Molly
Speaker 1: and if that wasn't all very impressive. He's married to
Speaker 1: the one the Lee Katherine Heigel from Like Grey's Anatomy
Speaker 1: or Under Siege or Knocked Up or if you're Josh
Speaker 1: from My Father The Hero. His story is so cool,
Speaker 1: so interesting, and he is so candid about his life.
Speaker 1: This is a really really enjoyable interview for me. I
Speaker 1: truly loved having this guy on this show so stick
Speaker 1: around because it's coming up in the Wells cast an
Speaker 1: episode you do not want to miss with the one
Speaker 1: the Only Josh Kelly Yellow. Can you hear me? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I can hear you. Fantast dude. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: By the way, man, this is awesome. There's some sort
Speaker 1: of wonderful flex of doing an interview as someone who
Speaker 1: instead of beats by dre headphones, they've got in ears in.
Speaker 1: I really do appreciate that. The other day it looks
Speaker 1: silly when I was where in my mind, but you
Speaker 1: look cool with yours on. But I just, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, something about this face just looks
Speaker 1: silly on on Skype with headpons on. Josh Kelly, Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Wells gass dude. Good to see a man.
Speaker 1: Yeah you too. Our paths aligned a lot. Did you
Speaker 1: know that? No? I didn't give me tell me why. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you're a couple of years older than me. But
Speaker 1: I went to Old Miss What yep. I was there
Speaker 1: from two thousand two to two thousand seven Victory Lab. Okay,
Speaker 1: so let's think here. So let's see I was nine nine, uh,
Speaker 1: and I got my record deal. I think it was
Speaker 1: in two thousand two, so like right when you got
Speaker 1: there is right? I was playing that was it like
Speaker 1: the height of my old miss fame as far as
Speaker 1: like playing the Sneaky Tiki and all those places, the
Speaker 1: Sneaky teky Man. I remember that place. It's no longer there.
Speaker 1: I played that. There was a venue called the Library.
Speaker 1: I played a lot still there. There was a couple
Speaker 1: different places, and I remember, basically like when I first
Speaker 1: started writing songs that I knew, I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, I think these are good. I would make
Speaker 1: flyers and I put the flyers for the Sneaky Tiki
Speaker 1: shows on every single sorority door and put it under there,
Speaker 1: and I would, you know, sometimes they would open the
Speaker 1: door and be like, guys, I'm playing the show now.
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna love it. I just kept on
Speaker 1: like promoting it. And then at one point the Sneaky Tiki,
Speaker 1: I think they were giving me three dollars ahead at
Speaker 1: the door. And there was one night I had a
Speaker 1: thousand people there, so I was like a I was
Speaker 1: still a dependent. I was like twenty years old and
Speaker 1: I made three grand on a Thursday. I remember just going,
Speaker 1: holy mold it. We in the money. Baby. I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm like at the time, I was dating this girl
Speaker 1: at Brittany, I was like, dude, we're going out for shrimping,
Speaker 1: grits and wine tonight. Baby, We're going to city grocery. Baby,
Speaker 1: let's go. We're going to the city grocery. We're gonna
Speaker 1: have them fried bottom fetus. I think we basically just
Speaker 1: missed each other at Old Miss, And then after that
Speaker 1: I graduated from Old Miss with my journalism degree, and
Speaker 1: I went and did radio in Nashville and worked at
Speaker 1: Lightning one hundred for seven years and then I heart
Speaker 1: after that. So I assumed you you must have been
Speaker 1: gracing the Lightning one airwaves when I was there. Absolutely
Speaker 1: I was. I was in Lightning one hundred a lot
Speaker 1: like Amazing was part of heavy rotation for a long time. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. I remember that, uh, And I remember there
Speaker 1: was country radio stations and pop stations in Nashville that
Speaker 1: we're playing Amazing, and um, you know what's funny about
Speaker 1: that too, is that originally Amazing was a bluegrass song.
Speaker 1: And I was trying to get a record deal in
Speaker 1: Nashville in the very beginning. I got turned down somehow
Speaker 1: got a pop deal in with Hollywood Records, and all
Speaker 1: I did is just all we did is just changed
Speaker 1: the song a little like, Yeah, we just changed the groove.
Speaker 1: And that's how closely related like country and pop music
Speaker 1: really actually is. Its attitude and groove. That's the only
Speaker 1: thing that's a little it different. Yeah, take out the
Speaker 1: Mando and the Van Joe and now it's a pop song.
Speaker 1: He'll be fine, it really is. So I do want
Speaker 1: to go back to all that, but I just wanted
Speaker 1: to kind of start the interview off with you and
Speaker 1: I have Hotti Totty and I missed Nashville. You're no
Speaker 1: longer there. You're in like Utah now right, Yeah, we're
Speaker 1: right right right outside of Park City, Utah. Congratulations. You
Speaker 1: are one of the very few people in the music
Speaker 1: industry that I've been able to put out music because
Speaker 1: and I totally get it, you can't tour behind anything
Speaker 1: right now. But you've got an unplugged record out now
Speaker 1: right yea. You know, I mean, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you can see this, but this studio, this is my
Speaker 1: mad scientist laboratory. And you know, over the years since
Speaker 1: I was a kid. I think it's because my parents
Speaker 1: never gave me out of all, I just ended up
Speaker 1: learning like fifteen different instruments. So I produce everything, I
Speaker 1: engineer everything, I mix it all, master at all. I
Speaker 1: mean I've always done it like that myself. So you know,
Speaker 1: no matter really what happens and comes my way, I
Speaker 1: I always will make music. I'll be making music until
Speaker 1: I can't talk anymore. And because for lack of better words,
Speaker 1: there's no overhead. I mean, I make everything here, so
Speaker 1: it's like a little it's like a little factory. So
Speaker 1: me during the pandemic, it just gave me an excuse
Speaker 1: to sort of lose myself in the studio and spend
Speaker 1: more time with the kids. And UM, I did a
Speaker 1: lot of online shows, but I have written this is
Speaker 1: the most prolific I've been in my whole life, because
Speaker 1: I don't know how to sit around and do nothing
Speaker 1: unplugged from upstream studios. Is upstream studios like your little
Speaker 1: man cave. Yeah, it's this is actually a it's like
Speaker 1: a it's a farm. So it's a horse ranch, pigs, goats, chickens,
Speaker 1: you name it, dog rescue. UM and my mother in
Speaker 1: law buitless place, and there's this room at the very
Speaker 1: sort of end like if you go outside these doors
Speaker 1: as a bunch of horse stalls and all that. And
Speaker 1: she was gracious enough to give me this space. And
Speaker 1: it's a nice big room because I used to create
Speaker 1: at home, and and as much as I love that,
Speaker 1: my kids are getting to the point now where they
Speaker 1: will come in and you know, we want to hang
Speaker 1: with Dad, and they will, you know, kind of take
Speaker 1: me out of the moment I have to escape to
Speaker 1: to be able to really create. And so it's this
Speaker 1: is this is great that I can come here and
Speaker 1: sort of get lost in the music and then go
Speaker 1: back home and be dad. What can people expect from
Speaker 1: this Unplugged record that they wouldn't normally from past releases? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean I grew up at the very
Speaker 1: beginning of MTV Unplugged, and I used to love that stuff.
Speaker 1: And I used to love I mean, I remember I
Speaker 1: could probably paint every frame of their Nirvana Unplugged and
Speaker 1: the air Clapton one. And so over the last probably
Speaker 1: four or five years, my team and I we've noticed
Speaker 1: that my my my solo acoustic shows which I played
Speaker 1: piano acoustic guitar sometimes, I mean I had my rig two.
Speaker 1: So sometimes where I'm like, let's just have a dance
Speaker 1: party and I'll just like press the space bar and
Speaker 1: we just rock out. And there something about the solo
Speaker 1: acoustics show that moves the needle more than the full
Speaker 1: band show. I think it's because it's a variety show.
Speaker 1: I can grasp my fans a little bit better and
Speaker 1: you know, make him laugh, make him cry, take him
Speaker 1: through a sort of an emotional roller coaster. And because
Speaker 1: of that, my fans have asked, you know, repeatedly on
Speaker 1: social media for me to record the songs the way
Speaker 1: I do them, you know, on the shows. And so basically,
Speaker 1: you know, of it is there was their choice, you know,
Speaker 1: songs that they chose, and then the other were some
Speaker 1: of the new songs that I only got to do
Speaker 1: three shows right before the pandemic that I was doing
Speaker 1: those songs live and it was really moving the needle.
Speaker 1: And one of them is a gospel song called hold
Speaker 1: Me My Lord, and so I just kind of cherry
Speaker 1: picked him and started recording them in here and kept
Speaker 1: them really minimal, you know, just sup just not a
Speaker 1: whole lot going on, and very exposed, very naked, and
Speaker 1: and it allows the voice and the message to really shine.
Speaker 1: So I'm really proud of it. I mean, it kind
Speaker 1: of was just something that I did for fun, and
Speaker 1: when I sent it into my team, they were like,
Speaker 1: we're putting this out right. So that's kind of how
Speaker 1: it happened, is very organically and having fun. You can
Speaker 1: never really beat that. I used to always say that
Speaker 1: my favorite bands to go see where three pieces because
Speaker 1: there was nowhere to hide. You can't be bad at
Speaker 1: your craft to a three piece, And I guess I
Speaker 1: should revise that to what you're doing because you have
Speaker 1: to be super vulnerable in that space. You are the
Speaker 1: piano player, you are the guitar player, you are the
Speaker 1: lead singer. I used to play music back in the
Speaker 1: day and stuff, and there is something nice about being
Speaker 1: able to hide behind people when you need to. Was
Speaker 1: it a hard transition to be like, guess what, it's
Speaker 1: just me now, you know? No, it was. I remember
Speaker 1: the moment. It was two thousand fourteen. I was in
Speaker 1: Virginia and I was about to play this show, and
Speaker 1: I was in my hotel room and I just decided,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm allowed to say this or
Speaker 1: not on the show. You can probably bleep it, but
Speaker 1: I decided to not. I didn't give it anymore. I
Speaker 1: didn't give a ship what people thought about me. I
Speaker 1: didn't give I don't care. I'm not going to censor
Speaker 1: myself anymore. And because of that, it allowed me to
Speaker 1: be authentically me and goof around, mess with people, make
Speaker 1: them laugh, and then play a song about my daughter
Speaker 1: and make him cry, like just instead of trying to
Speaker 1: be someone else. It just it just literally was like
Speaker 1: light bulb went off. And ever since that day, I
Speaker 1: walk into shows going I'm about to mess these people
Speaker 1: up like I and it and it's fun for me
Speaker 1: because you know, I've been doing it long enough now
Speaker 1: to where I really know what I'm doing, and I
Speaker 1: really really love it. I love it when people don't
Speaker 1: know if they're about to have an uncomfortable moment. You know,
Speaker 1: some shows, like acoustic shows, you're like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: this is so uncomfortable. Man. I make us a family
Speaker 1: right off the bat, and and once we're a family,
Speaker 1: then it's a variety show that we're all on together.
Speaker 1: I want to know about the science of creating the
Speaker 1: set list because you're like me, my fiance is an actress,
Speaker 1: your wife is an actress, and I've learned so much
Speaker 1: just from being around her about character arc in stories,
Speaker 1: and a lot of times should be like, well this
Speaker 1: is gonna happen, because this needs to happen, for this, this,
Speaker 1: and this to happen. I'm like, I never even thought
Speaker 1: about movies and TV shows that way. And I guess
Speaker 1: the question is that live music is very similar. You're
Speaker 1: taking people on this emotional roller coaster. What's your blueprint
Speaker 1: for setting that all up beforehand or is it all
Speaker 1: off the cuff and just how the crowd is reacting
Speaker 1: to Well, yeah, so it's it's for me, it's mainly
Speaker 1: based on the crowd and they, you know, they based
Speaker 1: on how what whether show is, what kind of show
Speaker 1: it is, what the venue is. I tailored that to
Speaker 1: the crowd for sure. What I what I make is
Speaker 1: a cheat sheet. So I make I will write down
Speaker 1: a list and very big black sharpie on the ground
Speaker 1: of like forty songs, and I kind of put little
Speaker 1: little cartoons next to some of them, like hey make
Speaker 1: sure you you know hit these these are the most
Speaker 1: important ones for this kind of venue. And then based
Speaker 1: on the crowd, I sort of organically kind of decide
Speaker 1: what kind of journey I'm going to take them on
Speaker 1: based on how they're reacting. If it's like a chill crowd,
Speaker 1: like let's say it's a hotel cafe in l A.
Speaker 1: Or let's say, like in Boston, it is a city winery,
Speaker 1: and those people are there, they pay, they pay top
Speaker 1: dollar to wine and dine and to really listen to music.
Speaker 1: And so that's a totally different experience. I don't have to,
Speaker 1: you know, like if I'm doing a festival and there's
Speaker 1: a bunch of drunk idiots, it's completely different, like an
Speaker 1: outdoor thing, you know where it is, And so I mean,
Speaker 1: I really do tailor it towards that. Um it's the
Speaker 1: people will let me know what kind of journey they
Speaker 1: want to go on. But I think usually my big
Speaker 1: thing is is I love to make people laugh, and
Speaker 1: I love stupid Dad ones and jokes and all that
Speaker 1: stuff and coming up with him, and I you know,
Speaker 1: if I'm flying from here to New York or Boston
Speaker 1: or something, I spend the majority of the flight coming
Speaker 1: up with new jokes and it's really fun. Some of
Speaker 1: them suck, and those are the funniest ones. What's more,
Speaker 1: gratifying doing like let's say a show that would be
Speaker 1: outdoors or at the festival where where people aren't paying
Speaker 1: as much attention as you'd like and then winning them over,
Speaker 1: or from jump Street playing a show, or everyone is
Speaker 1: just already hanging on every word. Dude. I will give
Speaker 1: you an example. So I did this. I was headlining
Speaker 1: this country festival and I can't remember was in the
Speaker 1: middle of nowhere. I mean, I don't even know where
Speaker 1: this place was on the map, but it was, you know,
Speaker 1: it was an outdoor festival, and right before me, a
Speaker 1: full band with like smoke and it come out of
Speaker 1: cannons played and then all of a sudden, it's just
Speaker 1: me and acoustic and are and this one dude, super drunk,
Speaker 1: kind of young guy. He kept going play Garth Brooks
Speaker 1: and he was so loud, and there's probably three thousand
Speaker 1: people there they could all hear him play Garth Brooks.
Speaker 1: The old me would have just like kind of shrunk into,
Speaker 1: like just shrunk in and just like gotten through the show.
Speaker 1: The new me that doesn't give a shit, starting in
Speaker 1: two thousand fourteen, said, um, I think I think what
Speaker 1: I said is I said, is there any security here?
Speaker 1: I said, see that guy over there yelling Garth Brooks,
Speaker 1: I said, can you get that mother effort out of here?
Speaker 1: And the crowd erupted and then I had him. We
Speaker 1: were together. They clapped and the dude got escorted out
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, we're a family, you know,
Speaker 1: And and then the show was great. Before that, all
Speaker 1: I could hear is this guy kept on saying that
Speaker 1: over and over again. Play Garth Brooks and I love
Speaker 1: Garth Brooks, but no, not right now. And it worked.
Speaker 1: And that's one of the things that I've learned just
Speaker 1: over the years, Like you know, there's gonna be outside
Speaker 1: forces that try to can mess you up and skip
Speaker 1: you up, and you just don't give it a heartbeat,
Speaker 1: get rid of it or play with it, don't shrink.
Speaker 1: And then once that mother was kicked out, you brought
Speaker 1: the house down with color on baton rouge and everyone
Speaker 1: loved it. It was fun, man, it was very interesting.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this. Do you know
Speaker 1: When when I was at Old Miss, I was actually
Speaker 1: there on a golf scholarship. So we're gonna get into
Speaker 1: all that. Don't worry about this because now you've got
Speaker 1: me thinking about Old Miss Man. That was so fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a great place. Speaking of all this live music, I
Speaker 1: feel like it's it's about to happen, or it's like
Speaker 1: slowly happening. I was talking to Russell Dickerson on my
Speaker 1: other podcast and he was like, dude, were about to
Speaker 1: release a tour. You've got a tour coming up in
Speaker 1: the fall of It's happening. We're back. I'm so excited. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, right when the pandemic happened, I
Speaker 1: finished three shows and and we were still I was
Speaker 1: still thinking about going to Atlanta and finishing out that
Speaker 1: next little part of the run, and my wife was like,
Speaker 1: are you sure? And then next thing, you know, my
Speaker 1: manager calls me and she was like, no, no, You're
Speaker 1: not going anywhere. But what I did during that is,
Speaker 1: I will tell you the positives of COVID For me,
Speaker 1: there was actually I hate saying this, but there was
Speaker 1: a lot of them. Um. The positives are I created
Speaker 1: a much better and closer relationship with my fans. My
Speaker 1: social media following doubled, and because I just became more involved,
Speaker 1: and so I spent a whole week researching how to
Speaker 1: how to create my own really great online live shows
Speaker 1: with multiple cameras UM using and using o b S
Speaker 1: online broadcast service and but like really owning it UM
Speaker 1: and so I was kind of one of the first
Speaker 1: guys that I know of during it that really hit
Speaker 1: the ground running with the live shows online. I had,
Speaker 1: you know, three camera set up. I switched the cameras
Speaker 1: with my toes and it was so fun. Man, it
Speaker 1: was really cool and I was able to do these fun,
Speaker 1: quirky things that I do. But I will tell you this,
Speaker 1: there are subtle things that you do in a live show,
Speaker 1: really subtle things that do not translate online. And I'm
Speaker 1: so looking forward to October because the tour got pushed
Speaker 1: four times. In October, It's happening and I am ready
Speaker 1: two to have a tangible experience with other humans, well
Speaker 1: everyone out there. You can go get your tickets at
Speaker 1: a Josh Kelly dot com. And the new unplugged record
Speaker 1: is called Unplugged from Upstream Studios. It's out now on
Speaker 1: Spotify and Apple Music and everywhere you can everywhere you
Speaker 1: can get music out. Is there anything else that you
Speaker 1: want to talk about or promote before we kind of
Speaker 1: pivot over to my portion of the show. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I'll just tell you too. Like the album that came
Speaker 1: out in November is called My Baby in the Band,
Speaker 1: and we just printed let's see if I have it
Speaker 1: right here. We it's my first time ever, you know,
Speaker 1: basically printing vinyl, like doing it on my own. Check
Speaker 1: this out, dude. So we got this. This is actually
Speaker 1: a picture that of my wife and I when we
Speaker 1: were in New York in our honeymoon phase where we
Speaker 1: you know, where everything was sparkles and butterflies. I got
Speaker 1: to choose the color, dude. I have a huge vinyl
Speaker 1: collection and I don't have one that's read and I
Speaker 1: love it. Yeah, it's like lipstick red. So we're selling
Speaker 1: these on online on my website and I'm I'm personalizing
Speaker 1: and signing every one of them. So when people get
Speaker 1: the record, you just have to put in the and
Speaker 1: the comments like this is first stay Facious loves Jeremy
Speaker 1: Day and and I'll put it on and I put
Speaker 1: it on there. It's fun, man, I love it. And
Speaker 1: we're like a homegrown one stop shop over here and
Speaker 1: it's my wife and I and it's actually really fun.
Speaker 1: I'm back to being an independent artist again because we've
Speaker 1: thought about doing the major label thing again. But but
Speaker 1: the thing is is, I'm forty one now, I've got
Speaker 1: so many great relationships. We were really moving the needle
Speaker 1: on our own with our partnerships and like digital distribution everything,
Speaker 1: and nobody's buying when's the last time you bought a CD?
Speaker 1: I don't even think they make cars with CD players anymore.
Speaker 1: I think that's over right, Yeah, so I don't you know,
Speaker 1: I think we're just gonna stay kind of homegrown, you know,
Speaker 1: for as long as we can. And I'm loving it. Man.
Speaker 1: It's it's more fun. I can put out a song
Speaker 1: a day if I want to, instead of having to
Speaker 1: wait for your place in line. It's definitely the way
Speaker 1: the future, man, the way the industry is moving, it
Speaker 1: makes the most sense. Or like, just do it like
Speaker 1: Isabel did, and like start your own label and then
Speaker 1: that's effectively what you're doing anyways, and you're putting out
Speaker 1: That's that's what we've done. Yeah, we start our own label,
Speaker 1: and we just partnered with the distribution company, which is
Speaker 1: what major labels do anyway. And if you want to
Speaker 1: go on a radio tour, just get alone. That's what
Speaker 1: a breaker deal is. It's a loan. So I hate
Speaker 1: saying that because now somebody's going to call me after
Speaker 1: this and be like, I don't know whatever, I don't
Speaker 1: give it. I don't think our c A is like, oh,
Speaker 1: did you hear what happened on the Wells guest this weekend?
Speaker 1: Josh Kelly would typical Josh Jops quick break. When we
Speaker 1: come back. I don't know if anyone told you, but
Speaker 1: my show's origin stories. I like to find out where
Speaker 1: people came from and how they got here, the success
Speaker 1: stories that you had along the way, the blueprint that
Speaker 1: you have created for yourself that other people that listen
Speaker 1: to this show can use in their life. So when
Speaker 1: we come back, we're gonna find out where the hell
Speaker 1: Josh came from and why the he is on this show.
Speaker 1: Stick around and you're listening to the Welles Cast, you're
Speaker 1: a nut all right? Back in the Wells Cast. Very
Speaker 1: excited to have Josh Kelly on the show. New Unplugged
Speaker 1: record out right now. It's called Unplugged Upstream Studios. You
Speaker 1: can download its, stream it whatever over on the Internet.
Speaker 1: And then of course the Fall tour is coming up
Speaker 1: in October. Grab your tickets at Josh Kelly dot com.
Speaker 1: I saw that you're opening up in Nashville at City Winery,
Speaker 1: which is the place that's near and dear to my heart,
Speaker 1: love that place. I love all those venues because it's
Speaker 1: perfect for what I do. It's the perfect size audience.
Speaker 1: It's the it's people that get my jokes, you know,
Speaker 1: that are going to spend that much money on the ticket.
Speaker 1: They get my jokes. I hate saying that, but you
Speaker 1: know a lot of my stuff falls flat for anybody,
Speaker 1: you know nineteen or younger, So I am in your
Speaker 1: age bracket, and I too love that. I don't know,
Speaker 1: like for people that don't know. It's kind of like
Speaker 1: dinner theater but with with musicians, and it's so wonderful.
Speaker 1: The food is great, like this is now turning into
Speaker 1: a City Winery plug but the food is great, the
Speaker 1: wine is great. And then it's also just like good vibes.
Speaker 1: It's a bunch of people that like are there for
Speaker 1: the same reason, like just to enjoy music sitting together.
Speaker 1: You never know who's at your table other than the
Speaker 1: people that you rot. It's awesome. Yeah, no, they spent
Speaker 1: they spent their money. I think there's like ten of
Speaker 1: them now and they spent money on making sure like
Speaker 1: when you go there, it sounds like a freaking record,
Speaker 1: like the sound system, the engineers that are there, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it sounds like. That's why I always tell them
Speaker 1: to him, like when you please record the show for me,
Speaker 1: because I want to be able to use this because
Speaker 1: that sound quite so good. So that's that's what it is.
Speaker 1: It's all about vibe. It's almost like you're going to
Speaker 1: like a distillery or something. You need to take a tour,
Speaker 1: like it looks like that nice and oki. Yeah, like
Speaker 1: that kind of like oky places, floody. Everyone makes sure
Speaker 1: you go download the new Unplugged record now grab your tickets.
Speaker 1: I want to pivot over to my portion of the show.
Speaker 1: I'm just kind of fascinated with how successful people became
Speaker 1: successful and like what trials and tribulations you ran into
Speaker 1: along the way. When we started the show off talking
Speaker 1: about how we both went to Old Miss but you
Speaker 1: know we got there in different avenues. I from California
Speaker 1: and you were born in Georgia, right, yeah, originally Augusta, Georgia,
Speaker 1: Home of the Masters. Yeah, which the tradition unlike any
Speaker 1: other I know, you went to Old Miss on a
Speaker 1: golfing scholarship and we will get there. But you grew
Speaker 1: up in Augusta. Have you played Augusta? I have? You know,
Speaker 1: I've been very lucky to have some friends who um
Speaker 1: are members, and they've been very kind to me, and
Speaker 1: you know, allowed me and my family and us to
Speaker 1: go out there and play. And it really is the
Speaker 1: most incredible, most beautiful experience. I hope that my buddy
Speaker 1: Ernie is listening to this because I really like to
Speaker 1: rub that in. There's something Bad's the most beautiful place
Speaker 1: in the world, and it's weird. It's like its own
Speaker 1: it's like its own country inside of the city of Augusta.
Speaker 1: You know, you can't get in, and if you get in,
Speaker 1: you can't get out. It's like one of those things.
Speaker 1: It's its own little world, and it is a glorious,
Speaker 1: beautiful world. Very rarely does anyone trump me on being
Speaker 1: from a more badass golf mecca because I'm from Pubble Beach.
Speaker 1: But I do think that you win because anyone can
Speaker 1: go play Pebble, but not everyone can go play Augustina. Dude,
Speaker 1: Pebble is not talk about an unbelievable experience. I think
Speaker 1: I'm actually going to be doing when they when when
Speaker 1: they allow the celebrity pro am to happen again, it
Speaker 1: looks like I'm going in. My little brother does it
Speaker 1: all the time. My younger brothers, Charles Kelly from the
Speaker 1: band Lady and A Bellum now called Lady A and Um.
Speaker 1: You know, he does it every year. And I used
Speaker 1: to do all these pro ams and then finally my
Speaker 1: wife was like, if you're not making money, you can't
Speaker 1: just leave us for a week. So I what I
Speaker 1: always do now is I'll always call whoever is like
Speaker 1: putting on the celebrity pro am. I'm like, hey, if
Speaker 1: you need entertainment, just think of think of me, because
Speaker 1: then I can I can justify going. So you were
Speaker 1: born in Augusta, Georgia. Is it just you and your
Speaker 1: brother or do you have other siblings? Know, there's six
Speaker 1: of us with a brady bunch, the girls, three boys
Speaker 1: and uh you know Charles and I. Well, actually my
Speaker 1: older brother. The reason we got into music is my
Speaker 1: older brother on you know, took us everywhere with him
Speaker 1: and I honestly I can't thank him enough for that,
Speaker 1: Like everywhere he went, even with his friends. We were
Speaker 1: in his beat up car, listening to led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath,
Speaker 1: Jethro Tolls, Supertramp Like. He just immersed us with music.
Speaker 1: And then when he he went off to college, he
Speaker 1: was on a golf scholarship at wake Forest and he
Speaker 1: came home one day with like some pawn shop guitar
Speaker 1: and when he went back to school, he accidentally left
Speaker 1: it there. And when he came back a month later,
Speaker 1: I had already taught myself a couple of led Zeppelin
Speaker 1: songs and he was like, well, I guess I'm giving
Speaker 1: this thing to you. Like he couldn't take it from
Speaker 1: me after that, And so that's really how music started
Speaker 1: for us. And um, we made a drum set for
Speaker 1: Charles out of pots and pans, and next thing you know,
Speaker 1: we're just jamming all the time. And I felt like
Speaker 1: Charles and I put in our ten thousand hours before
Speaker 1: we ever even got to college. That's how music started
Speaker 1: for us, just gigging around. We had a band called
Speaker 1: Inside Blue. I remember that James Brown's manager, Larry Friday,
Speaker 1: he wanted to sign us to a record deal. I
Speaker 1: remember this. We were like fifteen and fourteen. He was like,
Speaker 1: you'll have a record release party and in New York
Speaker 1: will have all the finest ladies and all this kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. We were like, yeah, Larry, and my dad
Speaker 1: came to the meeting and he was like, nope, you
Speaker 1: do any addition. We were so mad at my dad,
Speaker 1: but thank god he said no, because who knows where
Speaker 1: we'd be right now. I'd probably still be new music,
Speaker 1: but I'd probably be on the side of sleeping on
Speaker 1: a park bench and in California somewhere. I had read
Speaker 1: that like in in meeting uh those people and being
Speaker 1: offered that uh that deal that you got to actually
Speaker 1: meet James Brown though oh yeah, wow, I'm a huge
Speaker 1: James Brown fan, and yeah we got to meet James Brown.
Speaker 1: I still can remember the feeling of his hand on
Speaker 1: the handshake. It was like it was like a like
Speaker 1: a like a really he had a really thick hand too,
Speaker 1: and it was like a like an old like baseball glove.
Speaker 1: I could I swear. I can still feel. It's like
Speaker 1: dry baseball glove hands and and it and it it
Speaker 1: was so like nice and warm and nurturing handshake. He
Speaker 1: was like hello, young man. I was like hey, Mr Brown,
Speaker 1: and he was so cool man. It was just a
Speaker 1: cool dude. Uh, and I got to I think we
Speaker 1: met him again too when we were my little brother
Speaker 1: was getting like allergy shots. He was at the allergy
Speaker 1: shot doctor and my mom was like, my boys would
Speaker 1: love to shake your hand. He's so nice man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we got to meet James. That was great. You put
Speaker 1: in your ten thousand hours before you went to college,
Speaker 1: but I guess you also put in your ten thousand
Speaker 1: hours before you went to college for golf as well,
Speaker 1: because you went to Old Miss on a golf scholarship.
Speaker 1: At the time. Were you like, I'm gonna be a
Speaker 1: musician or were you like I'm gonna be the next
Speaker 1: Tiger Woods? You know, I didn't. I didn't know. All
Speaker 1: I knew is that I wanted to to to get
Speaker 1: far enough away from Augusta where I could kind of
Speaker 1: like started. I mean, I loved my growing up in
Speaker 1: august It was amazing. It was a perfect place to
Speaker 1: grow up and have the opportunities to learn music and
Speaker 1: and golf and all those kind of things. But I
Speaker 1: just I've always been kind of a loner and I
Speaker 1: need space, you know, to to kind of you know,
Speaker 1: blossom and being myself. And so I was I was
Speaker 1: very excited about golf, but music has always been sort
Speaker 1: of like the dream. And I remember when I was
Speaker 1: a kid, tell him my little brother. I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm I think I'm gonna doing music for a job.
Speaker 1: And remember him going, no, no, you can't, man, nobody
Speaker 1: does that. They're born into it. I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't think so. I think they're just normal people. It
Speaker 1: just you know, worked really hard, and so it was
Speaker 1: always in the back of my mind. And I think
Speaker 1: what happened is is once I started realizing that I
Speaker 1: was going on more dates because of music and not
Speaker 1: golf when I was in college, I really just sort
Speaker 1: of organically started steering myself in that direction and and
Speaker 1: then it just, you know, it happened out of nowhere.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I how many times I haven't
Speaker 1: really said this very much about how I did it,
Speaker 1: but I remember when I came up with my little,
Speaker 1: for lack of better words, scheme online scheme. At the time,
Speaker 1: I think it was like two thousand or two one,
Speaker 1: I knew it was gonna work, and it involved Napster,
Speaker 1: remember Napster. Of course, what happened is is that you know,
Speaker 1: I was making music that I really that I liked
Speaker 1: and I and I was like, I need to get
Speaker 1: my music out there. And you know, I had already
Speaker 1: had Napster and I was, you know, getting music and
Speaker 1: at the time, Napster basically it's like if somebody in
Speaker 1: let's say Braithwait Louisiana, had their laptop open and and
Speaker 1: we're sharing their library songs, you know, you could take
Speaker 1: from their laptop and you know, share it through the
Speaker 1: Internet onto yours. And so I realized one day, by accident,
Speaker 1: I right clicked on somebody's unique user name, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, this little thing popped up on Napster.
Speaker 1: It was like, basically you could send them a message,
Speaker 1: and I went really, and so every single day I
Speaker 1: would type in a new artist, Like first day I
Speaker 1: typed in James Taylor, and then a hundred results of
Speaker 1: unique users that were sharing James Taylor songs basically came
Speaker 1: up on a list and so I sent a hundred
Speaker 1: people that day a mets is saying, Hey, I noticed
Speaker 1: that you like James Taylor. Why don't you try this
Speaker 1: kid out I just found named Josh Kelly. You're gonna
Speaker 1: love him. What was your user name? Did you have
Speaker 1: a different user names of people weren't like I don't
Speaker 1: even remember who knows what it was. It was probably
Speaker 1: something stupid. I think it actually was something stupid. It
Speaker 1: was like change basket or something like that. But it
Speaker 1: wasn't like Josh Kelly at Gmail and they're like this
Speaker 1: guy Josh Kelly is telling me to go check out this.
Speaker 1: It was. No, it wasn't. I prided myself on coming
Speaker 1: up with clever names, and now I'm older, old enough
Speaker 1: to realize that none of those things using names the
Speaker 1: game at would be clever at all. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: did it a hundred times a day for I think
Speaker 1: about two months, you know, and I would go to
Speaker 1: the library at Old Miss and do it because there
Speaker 1: was a firewall, so you know, nobody knew what my
Speaker 1: IP address was. And basically after about two three weeks,
Speaker 1: I didn't even have to have my laptop of the
Speaker 1: open anymore to to share to host my songs. People
Speaker 1: were sharing them on their own. They so many people
Speaker 1: have downloaded my stuff that it, for lack of better words,
Speaker 1: kind of went viral and napster. And then I remember
Speaker 1: one of my recipients about two months into it, I
Speaker 1: think I was basically had like typed in like Stevie
Speaker 1: Wonder or something. I said, hey, if you like Stevie Wonder,
Speaker 1: you're gonna love Josh Kelly and and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: for the first time in two months, somebody actually like
Speaker 1: sent me a message back and said, hey, I love
Speaker 1: this stuff. Who is this guy? And I said, well,
Speaker 1: it's actually me. I'm just trying to get my music
Speaker 1: out there. And he goes, well, I'm an A and
Speaker 1: R guy for Hollywood Records. Can I call you tomorrow?
Speaker 1: And I gave him my number and I thought it
Speaker 1: was BS, and all my friends were like, this is BS,
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, he called me the next day,
Speaker 1: and six months later I had a record deal, and
Speaker 1: a year later I had, you know, one of the
Speaker 1: highest played songs on the radio. And it really all
Speaker 1: happened a little bit too fast, but it happened. That's ingenious, dude.
Speaker 1: I wish what I knew. I wish at the time
Speaker 1: I knew what I was doing with social media, I
Speaker 1: would be a billionaire, but I just all I cared
Speaker 1: about was getting the music out. I didn't realize it
Speaker 1: like people wanted to communicate on a platform. If only
Speaker 1: you had known that Instagram was going to be a
Speaker 1: thing out of flowing my helicopter too. I'd be right
Speaker 1: there in person with you right now. So that all happens,
Speaker 1: you become this kind of huge name. You somehow hacked Napster,
Speaker 1: which is genius. What happens next? The A and R
Speaker 1: guy asked me to send him music. So I burned
Speaker 1: a CD, and and I was an art major at
Speaker 1: Old MRS. So I used the art department to make
Speaker 1: like a really cool CD cover and all this kind
Speaker 1: of and so you know, remember the Mac computers that
Speaker 1: were looked like an ice cube. Yeah, that's what I
Speaker 1: made it on. And so I sent him the music
Speaker 1: and he loved it. But and he, you know, and
Speaker 1: I was I was really talking myself up to him
Speaker 1: when I was on the phone. I mean, and I
Speaker 1: you know, I talked to him like every week. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't let I wanted to be on his frontal lobes
Speaker 1: at all times, because by god, this was gonna happen.
Speaker 1: And so I sent him music, and I was telling
Speaker 1: him how the shows, where I probably was embellishing them
Speaker 1: a little bit. I was like, dude, there's like ten
Speaker 1: thou people here, you know, and he came out to
Speaker 1: see He came out to see a show, and you know,
Speaker 1: I think he liked what he saw. And then we
Speaker 1: just kept on chatting and then at one point he
Speaker 1: was like, let me fly you out here to l
Speaker 1: A and he flew me out. And I played for
Speaker 1: the A and R team, you know, at the record
Speaker 1: label on the Disney lot. And here's the problem. I
Speaker 1: don't know how I got away with this, but or
Speaker 1: how I'm even got in the business, because I showed
Speaker 1: up with berking stocks, uh frat boy hair, a golf
Speaker 1: shirt and raggedy khaki shorts and I played my songs
Speaker 1: and I remember, you know, going back home and in
Speaker 1: that called him. I said, you know, how how did
Speaker 1: it go? They were like, hey, they really like you
Speaker 1: and they loved the song, but they don't think you're
Speaker 1: a star. And I was like, what not a star?
Speaker 1: And it's because dude, I showed up in sand you
Speaker 1: know what an idiot? You know? But I was. That
Speaker 1: was me and I remember going, well, I think what
Speaker 1: I said to him, I said, go over them. He
Speaker 1: goes that. They don't want to. You know, the in
Speaker 1: our team didn't want to take a chance on you.
Speaker 1: I said, we'll go over their heads then go to
Speaker 1: someone else, and he literally went to the general manager
Speaker 1: and played them the song because I asked him to
Speaker 1: go over their head and the general man was like,
Speaker 1: why are we not what? This is a hit? And
Speaker 1: the next thing, you know, I had the deal. It
Speaker 1: was almost not gonna happen. And I think at the time,
Speaker 1: I just I wish I still had that fire. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm still looking for that guy sometimes. That was you know,
Speaker 1: it was gonna happen to come hell or high water,
Speaker 1: and I lost him a little bit. But it was
Speaker 1: very interesting. You know, when you have that that much
Speaker 1: will and you is you know, you know you're gonna
Speaker 1: make it happen, it always seems like things just kind
Speaker 1: of do you know. It's so funny because I have
Speaker 1: this conversation with a lot of really successful people, a
Speaker 1: lot of actors and musicians and stuff. In that time
Speaker 1: of your life, there is no plan B. And so
Speaker 1: when you have no plan B, it makes it really
Speaker 1: really easy to be like super hungry because there is
Speaker 1: no fallback. Yeah, there's no there's no doubt. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I remember being you know, having all this
Speaker 1: nervous energy back then that was a little almost kind
Speaker 1: of manic, you know, I mean it was it was
Speaker 1: all I thought about. It's all I focused on. I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, praying for a record deal, and I had
Speaker 1: a ritual every night that I did. I literally would
Speaker 1: I would kneel down next to my bed when I
Speaker 1: was at Old Miss, I would need on next to
Speaker 1: the bed. I made sure no covers were touching me
Speaker 1: and nothing on the floor was touching my legs or anything.
Speaker 1: It was like, it was like this crazy ritual, and
Speaker 1: I was praying for a record deal. Everything that I
Speaker 1: was thinking about, everything I was doing, was focused on that.
Speaker 1: So if there was any angles that were coming at
Speaker 1: me that maybe nowadays I probably wouldn't see it, then
Speaker 1: I was so focused on anything that could even fit
Speaker 1: in the category of helping me to get a record deal,
Speaker 1: I saw it at all times, you know, and I
Speaker 1: pulled those things in. So it was interesting how I
Speaker 1: look back on that time my life where you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I was gonna make it happen, you know,
Speaker 1: if it wasn't going to be Hollywood Records, and if
Speaker 1: he couldn't have gone over their heads to get to
Speaker 1: the GM, we were going to go to Columbia. We're
Speaker 1: gonna go somewhere else. I was going to knock on
Speaker 1: doors until it happened, And you know, I am actually
Speaker 1: finding that guy again. I will tell you what's helped
Speaker 1: is I stopped drinking bourbon. Oh boy, I mean me,
Speaker 1: my brother is my family. We have very addictive personalities,
Speaker 1: and I spent a lot of the last whatever fifteen
Speaker 1: years being uh, not the best version of myself, a
Speaker 1: bad guy or anything, just just always like living in
Speaker 1: a low hanging fog. Over the last two months, I've
Speaker 1: been so clearheaded. I am running on functioning on all
Speaker 1: cylinders again, and now I'm addicted to that. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: love it, dude. I love being sharp and and really
Speaker 1: getting stuff done and like you know, and like turning in.
Speaker 1: I'm writing a new song every day or every other
Speaker 1: day with an artist and sometimes different countries. And I'll
Speaker 1: do the demo after we're done on the zoom and
Speaker 1: then I send the song in and it's like that
Speaker 1: stuff makes me super happy. Now. I don't know why,
Speaker 1: I just love it. I assume you got signed to
Speaker 1: Hollywood Records. Was it a good deal? Yeah, yeah, it
Speaker 1: was a good deal. I you know, I had actually
Speaker 1: my A and R guy at the time. He found
Speaker 1: me a good lawyer, you know, I mean, and I
Speaker 1: will tell you this, like if there's any young kids
Speaker 1: who are thinking about doing this, and you know, and
Speaker 1: here's some advice that I wish that I would have
Speaker 1: been given. I got two things. The first thing is
Speaker 1: I wanted to show my parents that I could do it.
Speaker 1: I didn't need their help. I could do it all
Speaker 1: my own. I regret that I wish that I would
Speaker 1: have involved my dad and you know, my mom and
Speaker 1: everybody else, because there's a certain wisdom that he would
Speaker 1: have brought to the table. And there's mistakes that I
Speaker 1: would not have made. I made a lot of them.
Speaker 1: But now because of all those mistakes, I'm when if
Speaker 1: a new young artist comes here and I'm writing with him,
Speaker 1: I'm able to teach that. The second little life lesson
Speaker 1: which I did, hold on to my very first producer
Speaker 1: who produced all that. His name is John Alasia. He
Speaker 1: produced John Mayer's first record, Jason Mraz Lifehouse. You know,
Speaker 1: we were like, it's like young singer songwriter, like factory.
Speaker 1: And he told me to never sell my publishing. He said,
Speaker 1: it will be your retirement. It will be your kids
Speaker 1: education one day and I took that to heart and
Speaker 1: I had there was a lot of people throwing a
Speaker 1: lot of big money at me back then, and he said,
Speaker 1: just remember that whatever that figure is, it has to
Speaker 1: last year basically the rest of your life. And and
Speaker 1: and then in a little way, you're kind of betting
Speaker 1: against yourself. So I never did it, and now here
Speaker 1: I am forty one, still own my publishing and it
Speaker 1: literally is my retirement. It is my kid's education. Is
Speaker 1: exactly what he said, So kids, don't bet against yourself
Speaker 1: unless it's twenty million dollars. Didn't take it. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: that mailbox money, baby, it's good stuff. I've wrote the
Speaker 1: theme song for the TV show Mike and Molly and
Speaker 1: it got syndicated, and I will tell you that was
Speaker 1: an answered prayer man, because before that I was running
Speaker 1: low on dough. All of a sudden, out of nowhere,
Speaker 1: Kebmo and myself we got that theme song, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I needed it. That financial security, you know, man, entertainment
Speaker 1: business is there's no guaranteed. You make your guarantees hopefully
Speaker 1: very true. Okay, so you signed with Hollywood. I assume
Speaker 1: you go on tour for a while. When did you
Speaker 1: separate from them? Uh? So, let's see, I made two
Speaker 1: records for Hollywood Records. So the song only You, that
Speaker 1: was the first single off the second record, Only You.
Speaker 1: That's how I met my wife. Really, Um, I had
Speaker 1: just bought a house in Nashville, and because I wanted I,
Speaker 1: I was just ready to get back to the South
Speaker 1: and I bought us in Nashville. And the day after
Speaker 1: I bought the house, I had to go back to
Speaker 1: l A and shoot a music video for the song
Speaker 1: only You, and I didn't know who was gonna be
Speaker 1: the leading lady in it at all. But and then
Speaker 1: when I met her, it was Captain Freak and Heigel,
Speaker 1: and I still didn't know then. I didn't know who
Speaker 1: she was because nobody told me or anything. But we
Speaker 1: were both under the Disney umbrella, you know, Hollywood Records.
Speaker 1: She was on ABC doing grays Anatomy, and we hit
Speaker 1: it off. Man, we hit it off, and we've literally
Speaker 1: been together since that day and not until I can't
Speaker 1: remember what it was. But when I was a kid,
Speaker 1: I was totally obsessed with her movie, um My Father
Speaker 1: the Hero, but I didn't know that it was her
Speaker 1: for a while. And literally when I found out it
Speaker 1: was her, I went, I can't believe that somehow I
Speaker 1: figured out how to find that girl in my life
Speaker 1: that I was totally in love with when I was thirteen?
Speaker 1: How and the did that happened? And we've been together
Speaker 1: since two thousand five minutes? So I think Hollywood records
Speaker 1: for that. But after that record they let me go.
Speaker 1: Wasn't she also the daughter and under Siege? Was? Was she? Okay? Yeah,
Speaker 1: your wife's done a lot of really cool movies. I mean,
Speaker 1: like Knocked Up Still is like one of my favorite.
Speaker 1: It's so funny and so well done. I remember that's
Speaker 1: actually when I proposed to her. Deft way through shooting
Speaker 1: that movie. I took her to the place where we
Speaker 1: shot the video that the couple that owned it on
Speaker 1: Venice Beach, on the place they were like, yeah, of course,
Speaker 1: I said, I want to propose to her here. So
Speaker 1: they let me go up there and set up a
Speaker 1: whole thing, and I proposed to her on the rooftop
Speaker 1: in Venice where we shot the video. Like did you
Speaker 1: feel a spark immediately or you're like, oh, she's like
Speaker 1: a great actress and like this is no. I didn't
Speaker 1: even know she was an actress, and I just I really,
Speaker 1: I tell people on my shows all the time. I
Speaker 1: cracked people up. I'm like, dude, I got Katherine Hygo
Speaker 1: for twenty dollars Like that definitely wasn't gonna happen. I
Speaker 1: mean what it talked about the sweet So I was
Speaker 1: like right before Grey's Anatomy really hit, you know, so
Speaker 1: I didn't know. We just hit it off, like we
Speaker 1: were hitting it. We were in two separate buildings, so
Speaker 1: we're like having this sort of love affair, you know,
Speaker 1: through the windows while I'm playing music with my band
Speaker 1: and she's dancing through the music and this, you know,
Speaker 1: basically whatever apartment on the other side. And then we
Speaker 1: started doing our scenes together. And when we did, that's
Speaker 1: when I turned up the charm Southern charm Baby and
Speaker 1: I started working it. And it's crazy, man. We literally
Speaker 1: we have been together since that day. We just hit
Speaker 1: it off, and you know, and I know this sounds
Speaker 1: super cheesy, but she's definitely my freaking my soul jam.
Speaker 1: You know, we just we fight like cats and dogs,
Speaker 1: but we just get each other many that's for and awesome. Man.
Speaker 1: How long from shooting that to like first makeout session
Speaker 1: a week first day, but she had a yeah, but
Speaker 1: anything past that, she had like a two month rule.
Speaker 1: And I've never heard of anybody having any rules. You know,
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't. The only rules I grew up
Speaker 1: with there like you know, brush your teeth and go
Speaker 1: to bed. I didn't know that those rules. And so
Speaker 1: but I, you know, I was like, absolutely, you know,
Speaker 1: anything you want, I got to cover it. So that
Speaker 1: was great. Man. She's just, she's just, she's rad, she's fun.
Speaker 1: You know, she has a lot of respect for herself
Speaker 1: and and and and I respect that. I think we
Speaker 1: were definitely both in love. But I think when you
Speaker 1: know you've got something pretty special, you don't want to
Speaker 1: you don't want to ruin it with that. You know,
Speaker 1: there's more to life than that. So I'm glad that
Speaker 1: she's taught me a lot. She's definitely made me a
Speaker 1: way better person. And and you know, she's kind of
Speaker 1: taught me how to see past myself. I can be
Speaker 1: very self absorbed because I love making music, I love
Speaker 1: what I do. I like to do my things. And
Speaker 1: I've learned a lot from her, for sure, on how
Speaker 1: to be how to how to not just keep myself
Speaker 1: to myself, you know what I mean, like how to
Speaker 1: be more present as a as a family man and
Speaker 1: and and all that. So yeah, I'm very grateful. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's something to be said for getting involved with like
Speaker 1: a super high functioning, powerful woman because I'm the same way.
Speaker 1: I'm super self absorbed. I do these shows about me
Speaker 1: and everything. And when I see her creative spark and
Speaker 1: like her drive that I'm like, I gotta keep up
Speaker 1: or I gotta try to at least, you know, and
Speaker 1: it you know, it's like you know, rising tides raises
Speaker 1: all ships or whatever, and it's an important thing to
Speaker 1: align yourself with someone who also is super driven or
Speaker 1: as driven as you would like to be. You know.
Speaker 1: It makes life I feel like a lot easier. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's very interesting, you know what I mean. Like I've
Speaker 1: never she's so freaking talented. Like you know, when I go,
Speaker 1: I forget sometimes that this is what she does for
Speaker 1: living living, And like I went and she was doing
Speaker 1: her Netflix show and and I you know, I'll sit
Speaker 1: right there next to director or whatever. Sometimes they'll give
Speaker 1: me a chair, and I forget, My god, she's so
Speaker 1: good this and it's effortless. She doesn't people get mad
Speaker 1: at her because she doesn't have to. She will look
Speaker 1: at like three pages of lines one time while you're
Speaker 1: doing your hair and knows them for the rest of
Speaker 1: the day. And everybody else is like studying their lines
Speaker 1: and like, how do you do that? Do you have
Speaker 1: a photographic memory? Like what is it? She goes, No,
Speaker 1: I just really try to understand the tone of the moment,
Speaker 1: like what like I put myself in the that emotional scenario.
Speaker 1: And it's not so much that I've memorized all the lines.
Speaker 1: I memorized. I memorized the feet, the feeling, and and
Speaker 1: so it allows her to she knows what it's gone.
Speaker 1: She knows what's going on, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: She doesn't. It's not like you can tell when an
Speaker 1: actor is like really trying to pull from the member bank,
Speaker 1: like what was that line? What was that line? And
Speaker 1: they're like seeing it go through their head. She's just
Speaker 1: pulling on the emotion and I'm like, you're genius, how
Speaker 1: did you do that? And she's put in you know,
Speaker 1: hundred thousand hours and I think that's how you do it.
Speaker 1: I guess I don't know if it blows my mind. Well, hey, man,
Speaker 1: I want to be respectful of your time. I generally
Speaker 1: end the show before rapid fire questions with this question,
Speaker 1: which is is there a credo or a motto or
Speaker 1: a rule that you live by that you've found that
Speaker 1: helps you continue to be successful and whatever it is
Speaker 1: you do. God, that's a really going I have a
Speaker 1: bunch of them. I'll tell you what I've learned in
Speaker 1: my last ten years of living. Honesty is so freaking huge.
Speaker 1: You remember when you were a kid and you would
Speaker 1: you would have like a lie and you didn't want
Speaker 1: anybody to know. This line you would hold onto and
Speaker 1: even if people knew, you would still just like you
Speaker 1: and it and it would it would eat you up
Speaker 1: inside whatever you were hiding, it would eat you up inside.
Speaker 1: And um and really kind of like just that nervous
Speaker 1: energy can just kind of ruin your life. And and
Speaker 1: there was a time in my life where I just
Speaker 1: went honesty all the time, always, no more bs. When
Speaker 1: I was a kid, I had to do a lot
Speaker 1: of bullshit for reasons I won't explain, but to for
Speaker 1: other people's feelings, you know, to make them feel better.
Speaker 1: Tell him everything's will be whatever. And and now I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm learning. I'm still not perfect at it. But
Speaker 1: if you can be honest as you can throughout the
Speaker 1: day all the time, you won't You'll never have that nervous,
Speaker 1: niggling crap that can eat you alive. And yeah, definitely
Speaker 1: it's very freeing, you know, even if it's bad, I
Speaker 1: just you know, say it it's and it just freezy.
Speaker 1: It's like when Jerry McGuire's beating on the steering wheel
Speaker 1: when he finally gets was it Kushman or whatever and
Speaker 1: the song plays and he's just so happy. I think
Speaker 1: that's kind of like the relief that your body feels
Speaker 1: when you when you don't put yourself in bad situations anymore.
Speaker 1: Mean you're just honest about how you feel what is
Speaker 1: going on, and it just cuts through the bullshit. I
Speaker 1: work on this reality TV show where I'm kind of
Speaker 1: like therapist slash bartender, and a lot of people will
Speaker 1: come up to me and they'll ask for advice and
Speaker 1: it's always the same, which which is what what you're
Speaker 1: saying is. But the way that I say that is,
Speaker 1: I was like, the truth always sells every single time.
Speaker 1: If you lie, then you sound inauthentic because it's not
Speaker 1: who you are, So just be who you are, and
Speaker 1: I tell you what nine times out of ten, Especially
Speaker 1: in the reality TV world, everyone wants to be the
Speaker 1: funny guy on TV. The truth is always much funnier
Speaker 1: than whatever you've come in your mind because the truth
Speaker 1: is something that everyone can relate to. Oh yeah, I
Speaker 1: I can't go on the stakes. I have diarrhea. I
Speaker 1: ate too many times last night. So that's very true
Speaker 1: and like a hard to say, but it's hilarious and
Speaker 1: everyone that watches will be like, I've been there too. Yeah. Absolutely, yeah,
Speaker 1: honestly is relatable and like I was saying, you know,
Speaker 1: two fourteen, when I decided to be to not care
Speaker 1: what people think, It's all I was doing is just
Speaker 1: being authentically my honest self, my my true self. And
Speaker 1: after that, man, uh god, it is so freeing. I
Speaker 1: don't I really don't get nervous for shows anymore. I
Speaker 1: get excited and I already know I'm about to take
Speaker 1: people on an experience and it makes me. It is
Speaker 1: better than any drug. I swear it is the best.
Speaker 1: Before I lets you go, you're ready for some rapid
Speaker 1: fire questions. Oh god, okay, God, I'm so bad at
Speaker 1: these all right, I'm ready, alright. Rapid fire questions with
Speaker 1: Josh Kelly. First of all, on favorite pizza topping, Oh uh,
Speaker 1: sausage and black olives. You have a favorite book, Malcolm
Speaker 1: Gladwell Outliers. First constant every went to? Uh? That was
Speaker 1: Vince Gill with my mom. First job you ever had
Speaker 1: was at Hickory Ham. I was glazing Hams and making
Speaker 1: the most amazing sandwiches for lunch people's lunch time experience.
Speaker 1: Aside from your wife, who's the most famous person in
Speaker 1: your phone, and maybe also aside from your brother Ashton Kutcher.
Speaker 1: That's a good one. First record cassette or CD you
Speaker 1: bought Pearl jam Tin nice? Favorite superhero? My favor superhero
Speaker 1: was Hulk Holgan. Maybe I only he wasn't superhero, but
Speaker 1: I thought he was at as a kid, I always
Speaker 1: had him making out with Barbie, but Barbie was so
Speaker 1: much taller. He had to overcome, you know, he needed
Speaker 1: something to overcome. Physical trait. You noticed first about someone
Speaker 1: you're attracted to, Oh man, it's just vibe usually yeah,
Speaker 1: confident in their own skin, so physical traits. So I
Speaker 1: would say, how they hold himself while they're smiling? Did
Speaker 1: you have a celebrity crush when I was a kid? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it literally was the girl from my father
Speaker 1: The Hero and then Marrier. I swear god, it is
Speaker 1: so weird. I can't believe it. I can still I could.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen that movie and forever and I can
Speaker 1: still like paint you a few of my favorite frames
Speaker 1: that have been stained in my memory since. Josh Kelly
Speaker 1: truly Winning It Life, The Unplugged from Upstream Studios is
Speaker 1: out now, go stream it, downloaded by it. He's got
Speaker 1: vine for sale at Josh Kelly dot com. Don't forget
Speaker 1: about the Fall tour again. Also tickets available at Josh
Speaker 1: Kelly dot com. Where can people find you on social
Speaker 1: media or on Napster for that matter, Yeah, Naster and
Speaker 1: there funny. So Josh B. Kelly, my midnime is Bishop.
Speaker 1: Actually always wanted to go by like Bishop Kelly is
Speaker 1: my my stage name, but they wouldn't let me. So
Speaker 1: it's Josh Josh B. Kelly and Kelly spelled k e
Speaker 1: l l e y. And we do some pretty goofy
Speaker 1: funny ship there too, man. So it's it's actually been
Speaker 1: a lot of fun for me to build that following up.
Speaker 1: My wife thinks that my following is cute. That's what
Speaker 1: she calls. Yeah, I feel like four million. I think
Speaker 1: I have like a hundred thousand, and she's like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's adorable, honey. Yeah, dude, I'm in the same boat
Speaker 1: as you. Bro. Hey, let's play. Yes, let's play some
Speaker 1: golf soon, dude, let's do it. I'm in let's do
Speaker 1: it all right, Hotty Tide. Brother, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for being on the show. It was really wonderful talking
Speaker 1: with you. Thank you, brother. I appreciate it. Man. Alrightee man,
Speaker 1: blast but subscribe her radio, Apple podcasts or anywhere you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. It's the internet line, h