Josh Ross owes his love of country music to a friend of his dad’s

Joss Ross’ “Hate How You Look” (MCA/Mercury Nashville/Universal Music Canada/CORE Records)

In July, Ontario native Josh Ross landed his first #1 on the U.S. charts with “Single Again.” Now, he’s busy prepping his debut album, Later Tonight, which lands on Sept. 19.

Expect to hear classic and contemporary country influences on the album, thanks to a family friend.

“I grew up a huge Steve Earle fan,” Josh reveals. “[He] was kinda the one that originally got me into country music through somebody I would call my uncle, he’s one of my dad’s close friends.”

“And then yeah, I listened to a lot of like Alan Jackson, George Strait,” he continues. “And then that was in the era of Florida Georgia Line and Thomas Rhett. Those were like the new artists that I was really excited about when I was really getting into country music.”

“Single Again” made Josh the first Canadian male singer to top the U.S. country chart in nearly 30 years. His follow-up radio single is the new track “Hate How You Look.”