Josh Kear

Josh Kear is a Nashville-based songwriter who has become known as one of the country genre’s most consistent hit makers. He has spent nearly thirteen years writing for independent powerhouse Big Yellow Dog Music.

In 2007, he had his breakthrough number one song with Carrie Underwood’s massive hit “Before He Cheats” which spent five weeks at the top of the charts. Josh recently celebrated his 11th number one song "Drinking Class” by country star Lee Brice, , which was the most played country song of 2015 according to the Billboard country airplay chart.

“Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum might be considered the signature song of Josh’s career so far. “Need You Now” spent five weeks at number one on the country chart and 14 weeks at number one on the adult contemporary chart. The song went on to earn Josh two of his four Grammy Awards, winning for both Country Song of the Year and Overall Song of the Year in 2011. Josh also won Grammy Awards for Country Song Of The Year for “Before He Cheats” and “Blown Away”. Josh remains the only country songwriter to win Country Song Of The Year Grammy three times.

Other number one songs include “Highway Don't Care” by Tim McGraw (featuring Taylor Swift and Keith Urban), "Drunk on a Plane” by Dierks Bentley, "Neon Light” by Blake Shelton, both “Blown Away” and "Two Black Cadillacs” by Carrie Underwood, “Helluva Life” by Frankie Ballard and “Drunk On You” by Luke Bryan.

Other notable hits include “(Kissed You) Good Night and “Wild At Heart” by Gloriana, “Dancin' Away with My Heart” and “Goodbye Town” by Lady Antebellum, and “Redneck Crazy” by Tyler Farr.

Josh has received 14 ASCAP country airplay awards, 2 ASCAP pop airplay awards, and three ASCAP country Song of the Year awards for “Before He Cheats”, “Need You Now” and “Drunk On You”. In 2013 he also took home the coveted award for Country Songwriter of the Year.

Josh has been an advocate for songwriter’s rights now for several years. He has made multiple trips to Washington D.C. to lobby congress on behalf of all songwriters. He also performed for the Library Of Congress in 2014 as part of ASCAP’s “We Write The Songs” series along with Randy Newman, Carly Simon and Heart. Josh also helped write the theme song for ASCAP’s 100th Anniversary, “More Than The Stars” collaborating with such diverse writers as Ne-Yo, Dan Wilson, Stargate, Bill Withers and others.^[1]

Selected songwriting credits

Awards

External links

• Carrie Underwood Associated Press
• AIMP Panel 2012 - Josh Kear, Mike Stoller, Desmond Child
• Winners List at cmaawards.com
• GulfCoastNews.com Feature Article
• Big Yellow Dog Music website
• Playback Magazine Feature Story

References

1. ↑ "Josh Kear: Biography". Big Yellow Dog Music. Retrieved 8 April 2015.