James Otto

James Otto loves cars.

In fact, the Grammy Award-nominated singer/songwriter loves them so much that he’s restoring his grandfather’s 1966 long bed C10 Chevrolet pickup into a pro-touring truck. It was gifted to him by his grandfather and had been in a barn for 20 years.

“It’s a vehicle designed to be used as an everyday driver but can be taken out on the race track. It’s not completely finished,” he said. “It’s going to be a work in progress. I’m turning my grandfather’s truck into something cool that I can use on a daily basis.”

He’s bringing it to the Holley LS Fest, which will be today through Sunday at Beech Bend Raceway Park, 798 Beech Bend Road. The Holley LS Fest is a celebration of anything and everything powered by the GM LS engine. There will be a drag race, autocross, 3S challenge, show-n-shine and more. The National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park will join LS Fest as the venue for the new Track X challenge, which will be part of the Grand Champion competition. Event/class champions will be crowned as well as an overall event champion. For a complete schedule of events, visit holley.com/events/lsfest/schedule/.

“People can see how far we’ve gotten with it and where we’re going with it,” Otto said.

Otto will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at Beech Bend. He has performed in Bowling Green many times and said he is looking forward to doing it again. He just wrote a song for Holley called “Get Out and Drive.”

“It’s about getting in the automotive business. Young people don’t get into cars,” he said. “I grew up building them and working with my dad. It’s something I’d like to see kids do – building cars, racing cars.”

That’s not the only thing he did with his dad, who was a musician.

“I’ve been obsessed with music since I was a kid,” he said. “I started with the fiddle. I played the saxophone, the guitar. It was whatever my school had at the time.”

Born in Washington, Otto moved to North Dakota, where he lived for 10 years.

“My folks divorced when I was young,” he said. “I found my way back to Washington for my high school years.”

Otto was in different bands throughout high school, and after he got out of the Navy in 1995, he decided to head to Nashville in 1997.

“If I ever wanted to take it seriously, I needed to move to Nashville,” he said. “That’s where you’ve got to go if you want to make it in country music.”

Since then, Otto has been busy. He was nominated for Grammys for Vocal Performance for “Just Got Started Lovin’ You” and Song of the Year for “In Color,” a song he co-wrote, which was sung by Jamey Johnson in 2008. “In Color” won Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music Awards for Song of the Year in 2008.

“It’s kind of surreal. It’s something you never expect,” he said. “I was blown away.”

“Just Got Started Lovin’ You” was the most played song for country music for 2008, Otto said.

“I’m sure everybody was tired of it. It took nine months to get to the number one spot,” he said. “It was on top for two weeks. It was pretty cool.”

After a time, Otto parted ways with Warner Brothers and had a daughter. In order to be a good father, he decided to stay at home for his wife and baby. He didn’t remain idle. He still played shows and wrote songs for artists such as John Anderson, Trace Adkins, Randy Owens and others, most notably Zac Brown Band’s hit “No Hurry.”

“I didn’t go out and hustle the way I would if I wanted to pursue it seriously,” he said. “I’ve made my way as a songwriter in Nashville for 18 years. I’ve been part of a lot of songs.”

Otto recently signed with Blaster Records and released a three-song EP titled “Somewhere Tonight.” The song “Somewhere Tonight” broke into the top five on SiriusXM’s The Highway Hot 45 and is climbing the airplay charts for monitored radio. It is available on iTunes and all digital outlets.

“Have you ever had the feeling of being cooped up and needing to be getting out in a bad way? (’Somewhere Tonight’) is about getting out of a normal routine. It was a fun song,” he said. “I think we really captured that. You want to have something that makes you want to crank up the radio.”

Otto is glad people enjoy his music.

“It’s pretty fun when you’re driving and you hear somebody jamming to your song,” he said. “It makes you smile to yourself.”

— Follow features reporter Alyssa Harvey on Twitter at twitter.com/bgdnfeatures or visit bgdailynews.com.