Artist: Josh Kelley
Album: Special Company
Rating (1-10): 10
Buy?: Unquestionably yes.

Born in 1980 (yeah, he’s freakin young!) in Georgia, singer songwriter Josh Kelley has released 4 albums and 7 singles to date. He lives and writes in Nashville, TN and the Nashville sound’s influence is apparent in his latest CD, Special Company. Recently Josh married Grey’s Anatomy actress Katherine Heigl.

Special Company is an amazing mix of Soul, Blues, Funk, and Neo-Southern Rock. The soul sound stands out in the likes of “Special Company” and “Fallin In Love With You”. His soft neo-southern sound undoubtedly inspired by the surrounding Nashville can be found in tracks like “Layline”, “Still Gonna Try”, and “Stay Awake”. And of course the CD has it’s fair share of radio-play pop-rock sounds like “My Kind” and “Hey Katie” will undoubtedly find their way to the air waves. With the sounds alternating back and forth between genre and energy the entire CD there’s really not a bad song on this entire album.

If you want my opinion: a definate 5/5. Special Company is likely to stay in my 6-disc changer all year.