Tell us about how you got connected with OAR?

I met the OAR guys for the first time when I opened for them at the Phoenix Open (PGA tournament) in Scottsdale, AZ in January of 2010.  I stayed in touch with a few of the band members and tried to swing by and say hello when I rolled through their respective cities.  They play golf and surf so we definitely had a bunch of stuff in common other than music.  I grew up a huge fan of theirs so just being on that first show was an honor, let alone two years later being invited on their entire summer tour. 

You've played a lot of shows in a lot of venues for a lot of people...what was different about these shows?

I've probably played almost every type of venue that you could have live music at ... from sorority houses, to amphitheaters to retail stores and everything in between.  This tour was mostly larger venues, anywhere from 5-25k.  As the venue size gets bigger you definitely have to play a different kind of show, one that really reaches out to the people that are up on the lawn or way back in the rafters.  As a musician it's amazing to play through those kind of sound systems -- just the sheer power of those speakers gives you a rush.

Is there a big difference between being an opener and a headliner?

Night and Day.  Completely different. As the headliner the weight is on your shoulders ... the show can be great with bad opening acts and a solid headliner ... it doesn't work the other way around. As an opener there's a lot less pressure ... you can go out with guns blazing and see what happens ... if it doesn't go well then you just let the headliner clean up the mess ... ha! On a serious note though, the openers job is to heat up that stage for the main act and make sure that crowd starts to buzz long before the headliner takes the stage.  You usually have between 25-35 minutes to do your thing so you have to be as impactful as possible in a very short amount of time.

Getting to play with OAR was like a dream for you, who else would you really like to go on tour with?

I'd love to tour with a really fun female act ... like a Colbie Callait, Sara Barielles or a Katy Perry.  Everything I've done to date has been with dudes ... Shwayze, Mike Posner, Joshua Radin, OAR ... I think I'm ready for some lady vibes.

Surfing, golfing, traveling and getting ready to get married all take up a bunch of time...how do you find time for all of that amidst songwriting, recording, touring, sponsor obligations and the rest of life? 

I just try to stay organized and make everything fun.  Even the most boring/tedious tasks I try to make a game out of ... time management is key, but even beyond that is staying positive and not getting burned out, which is one of the easiest things to do when you're grinding, especially when intense travel is involved.  It's so easy to let this 'passion' become a job that transforms into this negative obligation that just drags you down. My goal is to charge down this road and do it as long as it's fun ... when it starts to become negative it's time to make a change of some sort, because at that point I won't be doing myself or the fans any favors.

Anything else you'd like to add?

Check out www.kelleyjames.com -- we just re-did the entire website. I'm coming out with new music all the time so go find the old stuff and stay tuned for new little gems that get dropped randomly through the website.  Keeping it KLeN!