Josh Kerr began creating music in the early stages of his life in Upstate, NY and now he is a Grammy winning hit songwriter and producer. He has worked with a large amount of talent including: for KING & COUNTRY, Kenny Chesney, Little Big Town, Maddie & Tae, Dylan Scott and Kelsea Ballerini amongst many others.

I sat down with Kerr whom just released his new song last Friday to discuss life as a songwriter, his own music and his advice to aspiring songwriters. You can stream Where Did We Go? HERE.

How did your love for music start?

JK: “I grew up in a very musical family. Both sets of my grandparents are very musical. My dad’s parents played in the Salvation Army bands and my grandfather was in a trumpet trio that toured the country. In Buffalo where I am from my grandfather taught those in the philharmonic and in schools. My parents led worship at Church and so did all my uncles and aunts on my mom’s side.” Kerr explains. “The rule in our house was you had to start playing trumpet before you could play any other instrument. My dad’s worship team needed a bass player so I taught myself how to play bass, thankfully it was right when YouTube was starting so I learned by playing to other songs. I played the trumpet all the way through High School and then received a trumpet scholarship to college.”

When did Songwriting come about?

JK: “In college is when I started writing songs and I came to find out that my dad would write songs for the Church when he was a worship leader but he would always use a pen name.” Kerr says. “No one knew that he did it, he was just doing it for the Church. At that same time my grandfather had gotten me into a program called Sibelius. I was writing choral pieces, full band, and orchestration pieces when I was twelve. That’s really what sparked my love for songwriting and then I learned and how to play guitar and it all naturally happened.”

With your father writing under a pen name, did that become something you wanted to do?

JK: “No, just because he was a band director for his actual job and he was a principal in different schools. Worship was something he did on the side. Once I realized I wanted to be a songwriter full time I knew that I should use my name, especially in the genre of country music. Thinking back I honestly should have used a pen name because when I got started I didn’t know there was a guy who is very well respected and Grammy Award Winning Country songwriter, Josh Kear. We have the same first and middle name and last name just spelt differently.” Josh laughs.

When you first started writing, what were you writing about?

JK: “Heartbreak for sure.” Josh goes on to say, “But I guess the first ever songs were worship songs. They were so cheesy.” Kerr confesses. “The first song was called, Lord You Make Me Wanna Jump. I came to find out my cousin had a recording device and I figured out how to semi-use it. I couldn’t sing at the time so I had my little brother sing it.” Josh says. “Of course you know you start getting into romance later on and it all becomes love and heartbreak.”

What was the first song you wrote that was cut by another artist?

JK: “The first cut I ever had was Love Me Like You Mean It (Kelsea Ballerini). At the time Kelsea was just a writer at Black River and then she got a record deal. It being my first cut I didn’t know how to feel, of course I was excited but I was writing for a new artist, there’s no guarantee it’s going to work.” Kerr explains. “But writing with this little crew (Whitehead, Carpenter, Ballerini) definitely gave me that confidence that I could do this. I’ll say that the first cut where I felt like I was really doing this was with Keith Urban. Getting to work with Keith and a produce and write a song with him was one of the first moments where I couldn’t believe this was happening.”

With writing so many hit songs, do you ever wish that you would have held onto certain songs to record for yourself?

JK: “Never - I am someone that wants the song to have the best possible chance of being heard. For me, that’s getting someone like Keith or Kenny Chesney, Maddie & Tae or any number of people to record it so there’s a better opportunity for the song to be heard.” Kerr says. “I want that for my song andI want that for my co-writers. Each song is like a baby and I want that song to grow up and meet a lot of people so I can honestly say there’s not a song I wish I would have held onto.” Kerr goes on to say. “The reality is I can go back and cut the songs which I am considering doing as a record of songs that have been cut that I love.”

I know that every songwriting session must be different for you, but what does a casual session consist of for you?

JK: “When I lived further out of town I would always start every session by throwing on Spotify or the radio and listen to music for thirty minuets and get inspired by something. There are some thing you hear where you say, ‘man I gotta write a song right now’. Now, most days involve me getting to the studio thirty minuets to an hour early and I sit and look around the room and see which instrument looks inspiring for that day. I’ll mess around with some stuff and then people come in, we’ll say our hellos, catch up and usually song titles will be said unless someone has someone has something already started.” Kerr explains. “I’ll then start working on the track, we’ll go back and forth on writing the song and at the end of the day I send them the demos.” Josh tells me. “There are people who do it a lot of different way but for me, everyday starts with a blank page and a blank session. I don’t prepare for tracks, I will get ideas sometimes but I don’t start on an idea unless it’s for me. I like the collaborative process so much that I don’t want to get something in someone’s head when maybe there’s a better way to write the song that I wouldn’t have thought of.”

What’s something that always inspires you?

JK: “I love documentaries. I love watching songwriting and artist documentaries. There’s a series called Mix With The Masters, they do a lot of interviews on how people made records, how their process works. I’m always inspired by somebody doing something different than the way I’ve done it and then trying to do it their way. When you’ve written songs for ten years you have to try and find that inspiration of something that will trigger that thing inside of you to be excited.”

What is the most challenging song that you have written to date?

JK: “The first one that comes to mind is a song called, For God Is With Us which is on the for KING & COUNTRY record (What Are We Waiting For?). We had actually written this song for their Christmas album and they loved it so much that they wanted to save it to put on their upcoming album.” Kerr says. “We had this entire Christmas song - angels over Bethlehem, church bells and all and then we had to un write it and attempt to re-write it as not a Christmas song. We spent weeks re-writing to the point where I was frees tyling lyrics to try and find some other way to create this. It was also a long production that I did with Ted T and Benjamin Backus because it was fully produced as a Christmas song. Eventually it became what it is.” Josh explains. “I think those are the hardest songs for me to write - when something is written and you have to change it for whatever reason.”

What was the easiest song you have written?

JK: “I would say any song that I wrote at the beginning of my career because you’re just doing, you’re not thinking about it and it’s just coming out of you. Over time you start overthinking songs but there is one song in particular that was the easiest which would be Sugar Coat by Little Big Town. I wrote that song with Lori McKenna and Jordan Schellhardt. Jordan and I were in Boston writing with Lori and we had finished this other song and Lori goes, ‘let’s write another one’ so she read us the lyrics top to bottom of the chorus and she asked if Jordan and I if we heard a melody? I was playing some chords because sometimes I like to play when people have an idea and try not to think about it and see how the chords make me feel what what they’re saying and Jordan and I sang almost the identical melody at the same time which was crazy. Jordan and Lori then wrote the versus so it was very easy day for me.” Josh laughs, “I was just thankful to be there with these incredible songwriters.”

Is there a song you are most proud of?

JK: “There are two songs, the first one is God Only Knows by for KING & COUNTRY. I’m just so proud of it, even without the success that it’s had. It’s still one of my favorite songs, I love everything about it. The second song would be, You Don’t Get To by Kenny Chesney just because there’s handful of songwriting experiences that when you go into write a song, you remember forever.” Josh says. “Early in my career I was writing three songs a day just trying to grind. Writing with Barry and Dustin on You Don’t Get To, just the conversation that was had, the realness it was a prime example of three completely different stories around the same idea coming together in a universal way to write a song and I feel that’s what songwriting is about.”

What can you tell me about the solo music your create?

JK: “I think the best way to describe my music is to say it’s my version of country. Growing up in Buffalo, New York is not the most country place in the world by any means and I struggled for a long time with how am I country? I’m a kid from New York who wears joggers and big sweatshirts all the time, I have never gone hunting, I don’t hunt, fish and love everyday.” Kerr laughs. “I think over ten years I’ve learned country music is a mindset and it’s about stories. I think country music gives such a beautiful way to express thing truthfully. As far as lyrical content it gives you the ability to go as shallow or as deep as you want and make it meaningful and that’s something specific to country music.” Kerr explains. “My artist project has not only been to produce songs that I love but it’s been a way to have consistency and something that I can always go back to and say, ‘hey I’m really proud of this and I worked really hard on this’.

What can you tell us about your song, Have To Be My Hometown?

JK: “So that was a title that I had on my phone when I went in with with two amazing songwriters; Frazer, Churchill and Santa Rosa. I was planning on writing a pop song that day with two pop writers and they were like we want to write country song.” Kerr says. “I said, ‘well I had a vibe and if you guys want to base it with me then I say we do it. I think it’s Ryan Tedder that says, ‘the best songs in the world are happy sounding songs with sad lyrics.’ I’ve really always taken that into account and that’s what I love to do.” Kerr says, “but I was writing a lot of ballots for a long time, but Have To Be My Hometown I think that it's one of my favorite examples of if you read the lyrics it's a very sad, but it feels happy. And that was that was my goal of like man, I always say like it's either the windows rolled down or boat in the middle of a lake test, would it pass the vibe check? And it passes to me.” Kerr laughs.

What is one thing you always want your music to relay to the listener?

JK: “I always wanted to relay the emotion of the song and I always want someone to be able to say, ‘yeah, I've been there’ or ‘yeah I am there’. It’s very important to me and it was when I was younger I used music to work through emotions. When I was happy or when I was sad I can think back to everything in my life. I remember driving around in my car and blast Drake or whatever or I was playing lacrosse in High School and I think about the song that I chose for every goal. Music has a way of taking you places and I hope that my music takes people somewhere.” Kerr says. “I don't know where it is and I hope that answer is different for everyone.”

Is there a certain artist or fellow songwriter that you want to collaborate with?

JK: “The easiest answer would be Morgan Wallen I love him, I have a list though like Sasha Sloan, she’s incredible. There’s a new artist Mimi Webb - she has a song called House On Fire that my wife and I are obsessed with. I’ve already collabed with Jake Scott who is my best friend but he was on the list too. It;s such a long list of people that it’s hard to remember.”

Was it it like watching your song come to life on stage at one of the artist’s shows?

JK: “It is indescribable. It's my favorite feeling, the only feeling that beats that it listening to the demo the day of writing. But going and just seeing people, whether it's a country song where people are having a good time with a song they can drink a beer to or going to a for KING & COUNTRY country and watching the impact of a song that means so much to someone. That is why I write songs, there is some selfishness of I have to write songs, but in my mind I’m thinking, what do other people need to hear today? I think when you go to a show that’s very realized. I’m not there when someone pulls up Spotify and I'm sure that feeling would be amazing, someone just randomly wanting to listen to that song. Going to a show is just watching the reaction and seeing people respond is amazing.”

What does a dream headlining tour look like for you?

JK: “That is a great question, not one that I have thought a lot about but I will say I’ve gone to a lot of amazing shows, however every time I go to a concert I wish I could really see everything. Some people are way in the back so my show would definitely have a large LED screen, that would be very important to me. Also, the best shows I’ve ever been to is when you feel a sense of connection with the artist and that would be very important to me as well.” Josh says. “I'm not sure how I would do that but that would have to be done for me.”

What's your advice to aspiring songwriters?

JK: “Keep writing songs. The best advice I ever received was from a guy named Josh Osborne. He told me just finish every song, every song that you finish is one closer to that song that you've been waiting for and its been that way for my entire career. I think finishing a song, even if you think it's your worst song, it's probably not. Finishing songs is just so important. Just just knowing that you can finish the song gives yourself the confidence to write another one. The the biggest piece of advice that I would personally have that was not given to me is just write with your friends, write with peers, write with people who are going through the same things you are in your career.” Kerr explains. “When I was writing in the beginning all the people I was writing with were people that had not one artists on their list of I have to write with them. Now almost all of them are on everybody’s list. So, you just never know when you are writing that song. It's such a waiting game and patience and just believe in who you are.

If you could say one thing to the world and the whole world would listen, what would you say?

JK: “Be confident in your originality, what you bring to the world and others around you. Being confident in originality and uniqueness is the one thing that gives me the most life and the one thing that is sometimes the hardest for me to. And just love people. I think that's the easiest thing that we can do. It would just make the world a better place.