Josh Ross

Canadian country singer Josh Ross specializes in slow-burning country-pop that makes room for ballads like "First Taste of Gone" and rousing party songs like "Tall Boys." His music is radio-ready country with the addition of light R&B rhythms and an unobtrusive electronic sheen, and his lyrics are down-to-earth portraits of relationships, hard work, and the call of Friday night. Ross first found an audience in his native Canada with his 2020 EP Do What You Love, while the 2023 single "Trouble" -- from 2024's Complicated -- confirmed his status as a star in the United States.

A native of Waterdown, Ontario, Josh Ross spent his adolescence as an athlete, eventually enrolling in London, Ontario's Western University with hopes of becoming a professional football player. Sidelined by a series of injuries, his gridiron dreams didn't come to fruition, and he turned to the guitar and started exploring country music, a genre he'd loved since he was a child. He worked construction management as his day job and gigged steadily, eventually winding up on the Emerging Artist Showcase at the Boots and Hearts festival. It was a big enough break to send him to Nashville in 2019 with designs on being a professional songwriter; he left home just as a tornado was making its way into town. While the COVID-19 pandemic forced Ross to return home, it didn't blunt his ambitions, and he continued to write and record. After gaining some traction as a writer, he released his first single, "If You Were a Song," which was quickly followed by the singles "Born with a Boyfriend," "Chevy," and "Love Never Looked Like Us" in 2020. Many of these songs were rounded up on his first EP, Do What You Love, which also arrived in 2020.

In 2021, "Tall Boys" generated healthy spins on streaming services, and the ballad "First Taste of Gone" was issued independently in February 2022. The single began to take off in Canada, and he signed a deal with Universal Music Canada, which took over promotion of the single, and it rose to number five on the Canadian Country Charts, with the follow-up, "On a Different Night," beating it, topping out at number four. As his star rose, Ross was soon sharing bills with headliners like Lee Brice, Chase Rice, Brantley Gilbert, and Nickelback, and he performed at the half-time show for the 2022 Grey Cup game (the Canadian Football League's championship match) alongside Jordan Davis and Tyler Hubbard. With the chart-topping single "Trouble," Ross continued to enjoy international success in 2023. He kicked off 2024 with two singles, "Truck Girl" and "Single Again," the latter of which made the Top Ten of Canada's Digital Singles chart. These songs landed on his 2024 effort, Complicated. ~ Mark Deming