“I’ve never done a record like this,” says Gabe Dixon. “There were no constraints, no expectations. It’s the most myself I’ve ever been on an album, which just made the whole experience so refreshing and fun.” Press play on Dixon’s ecstatic new solo LP, Lay It On Me, and you’ll hear that sheer, unadulterated joy radiating out from every single track. Recorded with producer/composer/multi-instrumentalist Dustin Ransom, the album is a testament to the power of creative freedom and artistic maturity, a bold, self-assured statement from an artist learning to trust his gut and embrace his instincts like never before. The songs here are hopeful and uplifting, celebrating the strength and support that comes with stability and commitment, and the arrangements are similarly bright and buoyant, blending old school soul grooves with effervescent pop hooks and addictive rock and roll energy. Dixon and Ransom played nearly all of the instruments on the album themselves, and the pair’s mix of vintage grit and modern shine proves utterly intoxicating, suggesting at times everything from Stevie Wonder and Elton John to Ben Rector and Gavin DeGraw. Given Dixon’s prodigious resume as a sideman—he’s toured and recorded with the likes of Paul McCartney, Alison Krauss, and, most recently, Tedeschi Trucks Band—it may seem like a foregone conclusion that his solo work would sound this poised and confident, but the truth is that the road to Lay It On Me has been a long and challenging one, and Dixon’s arrival at this moment feels less like a culmination and more like the beginning of a thrilling new chapter in an already remarkable career. “I’ve been on this journey of learning to believe in myself and my music for most of my life,” says Dixon. “I’ve spent quite a bit of my time playing in support of other artists’ visions over the years, but with this record, I’ve finally reached a place where I’m able to fully realize my own.” Born and raised in Tennessee, Dixon began playing keyboards professionally before he’d even started high school. As a teenager, you could usually find him hauling his Hammond B3 organ in and out of Nashville nightclubs he wasn’t even old enough to legally enter, and by the time he hit 18, he was headed down to Florida to study classical piano at the University of Miami. It was there that he launched the Gabe Dixon Band, which included his then-roommate Jano Rix (who would later go on to fame as a member of The Wood Brothers), and began writing songs with the same kind of focus and passion that he’d previously reserved for his virtuosic keyboard work. After graduation, Dixon and the band landed a major label deal and began releasing a string of acclaimed albums, which helped earn them television appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Late Show, festival slots everywhere from Bonnaroo to High Sierra, and widespread critical praise. Along the way, Dixon also found himself serving as a hired gun for some of the biggest names in modern music. Paul McCartney tapped him to play keys on Driving Rain and at the Concert For New York City; Avicii featured his harmony vocals on the platinum smash “Hey Brother;” and Alison Krauss, O.A.R., and Supertramp all invited him to join their touring bands. Rewarding as the work was, Dixon’s heart always lay with his own music, and he turned down seemingly as many opportunities as he took. “Early on, I treated playing with other people as an either/or thing in regards to my own career,” he explains. “As time went on, though, I started to see it more as a both/and situation, where the lines were more blurred and everything I was doing was part of this bigger goal of bringing as much beautiful music into the world as possible.” After dissolving the Gabe Dixon Band, Dixon released his solo debut, One Spark, in 2011, and followed it up five years later with Turns To Gold, his first release on his own Rolling Ball Records label. Each album brought Dixon closer to the kind of artistic autonomy he craved, and critics took notice of his evolution as a writer and performer, with Rolling Stone praising Turns To Gold’s “pop-soul piano” and “compact crunch” and Paste calling it “heart-wrenchingly honest.” “I was signed to a publishing company and writing several days a week for other artists or for film and TV when that record came out,” recalls Dixon. “I met Dustin around that time, and we decided to see what would happen if we wrote together just for the fun of it, with no particular goal in mind beyond having a good time.” In that first collaborative session, the pair managed not only to write a brand new track, but to record it from scratch in a single day. Working in such a manner was new for Dixon, who was used to recording live in the studio with a band rather than building songs up a layer at a time, but he quickly fell in love with the process, which enabled him to meticulously shape every single element of the sound. Subsequent sessions with Ransom yielded similarly exciting results, and before he knew it, Dixon was well on his way to creating what would become Lay It On Me. “Dustin came to this project as a fan of mine already, particularly of the more adventurous, jazz-influenced side of what I do,” says Dixon, “so I felt like I could really be myself around and him. We were like kids at the playground in the studio just grabbing whatever instruments jumped out to us and building whatever kind of songs we wanted to hear that day.” That liberated spirit is obvious not only in the music, but in the lyrics of Lay It On Me, which is without a doubt Dixon’s most upbeat, inspirational collection to date. The blissful “Something Good” revels in hope and optimism, while the delightfully funky “I Believe In Our Love” celebrates the power of deep partnership, and the soulful title track promises to be there for a lover through thick and thin. “As an artist, it can be easy to wallow in sadness and self pity,” says Dixon, “but I’m at a place in my life where I’m done giving in to negativity and despair. I want to be a source of strength and hope for my wife and everyone I love, and these songs are about getting through the hard times and serving others.” Though the record was written well before the COVID-19 pandemic, tracks like the dreamy “Don’t Look Down” and tender “Last Train Home” feel particularly resonant given the current state of the world, and sweet, simple love songs like the spry “Everything About You” and R&B-tinged “I Got Your Love (You Got Mine),” which features vocals from Susan Tedeschi, take on new meaning in light of all the struggle and loss we’ve endured of late. “I couldn’t have written a lot of these songs 15 years ago,” reflects Dixon. “It takes time to figure out what really matters, what the important things in life are.” With Lay It On Me, it’s clear that Gabe Dixon has found them. Dixon continues his musical journeys in 2022 with the release of 3 new EPs in the first half of the year: Live From The Soiled Dove, Live From Rockwood,”and his latest original studio offering, Let Me Be Your Melody, an EP produced and recorded with Lay It On Me collaborator, Dustin Ransom. Catch Gabe this summer opening for Los Lobos and Tedeschi Trucks Band on the 2022 Wheels Of Soul tour.

Formed and honed in East Nashville, TN by lead singer Brother Love and guitarist Alex Haddad, Them Vibes shook the foundations of Music City with their blitzkrieg live show and soulful songwriting. Inflected with the rhythmic sway of The Faces and T-Rex, the raw energy of the Rolling Stones and the Black Crowes, and the whiplash funk of Sly And The Family Stone and James Brown, Them Vibes has risen to a sonic experience all of their own.   The band has opened for household names like Cage the Elephant, Fantastic Negrito, Dumpstaphunk, Cheap Trick, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and The Flaming Lips. With four records under their belt- Shine On, TV, Electric Fever, Why The Funk Not- and a brand new LP on the way, their songs have been featured on CBS's NCIS: LA, ABC's The Rookie, Showtime's Shameless, Amazon's Sneaky Pete, Netflix's The Ranch, and a National T- Mobile campaign. America's number one independent radio station, Lightning 100 WRLT, ranked their self-titled single, Electric Fever, number 22 in the Top 200 Songs of The Year and Top 4 Best Shows To See Live! A Year later, their DIY single release of the funk heavy cut, Right On, was ranked number 4, rising above innumerable major label acts.   Fresh off the road with Maggie Rose in 2021, the band finished their new album and was accepted into SXSW Music Festival, has opened up for Devon Gilfillian, Cimafunk, Kelsey Karter and the Heroines, and headlined at the Tomato Festival in East Nashville, and played at the Ride the Tide Festival at the Caverns, and the Roscolusa Music Festival in Florida.  In addition, the band has released 5 singles off their new upcoming album, Sonic Chameleonic, over the last year. The band is releasing their new album, Sonic Chameleonic, on all digital platforms on September 1st and plans to play shows throughout the country for the rest of 2023.   

Singer/songwriter Cody Belew has a love of the South that is in his blood. Reflecting on his upbringing in rural Beebe, Arkansas, what sticks with him most is the one-room church where he learned to sing when he was just a toddler. It’s these soulful roots that are reflected in his music which combines authentic storytelling with powerful vocals that take you to the heart of his experience. Blending raw emotion with Southern stomp, Cody’s material moves far beyond his contemporaries with a unique point of view on faith and love that he approaches with fearless honesty. Cody made his way to Nashville to pursue a music career, where he made ends meet working with fashion, furniture restoration, and music. It wasn’t long before his talents were recognized, earning him an appearance on NBC’s THE VOICE. After finishing the show as a Top 8 finalist, Cody was asked to open for Delta Rae, Florida Georgia Line, Rascal Flatts, and more, and started writing with GRAMMY® Award-winning Deana Carter and Mike Reid, ACM Award winner Tia Sellers, and ascending recording artists like Hailey Whitters, Rick Brantley, and Waylon Payne. Assembling a mix of candid originals and well-loved classics by artists who inspired him, Cody released his self-titled debut EP in early 2022 via Visionary Media Group. The lead single, “Rodeo,” premiered in Times Square and quickly found regular rotation on CMT. His take on the Dolly Parton classic “Here You Come Again” was a welcome reinvention, with Robert Oermann from Music Row Magazine saying “he completely reinterprets this 1977 Dolly hit, transforming it from a bouncy ditty into a cry of romantic anguish. His only accompaniment is a pianist, but his dramatic performance is so gripping that it needs nothing else.” Last year also had him reimagining the Brooks & Dunn classic “Neon Moon” with GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Dave Audé. The disco-tinged cover, which recently hit the one million streams mark on Spotify, continues to top a variety of popular playlists.  Belew kicked off 2023 as a member of CMT’s coveted “Listen Up” program, which counts Kacey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini, Thomas Rhett, and Maren Morris among its alums. A long-time Nashville resident, Cody recently completed a yearlong, sold-out residency at the city’s famed Lipstick Lounge and is playing a slew of upcoming shows for a fan base he’s built with his impassioned vocals, deft songwriting, and undeniable stage presence. Belew is currently working on his full-length debut, in which he’ll traverse between his deep-seated love of Southern music and his obligation to activism.

Years before kicking off his career as a sharp, soulful songwriter and first-rate vocalist, Tim Halperin spent countless hours by the family record player as a child, listening to classic pop, Motown, and R&B records. "I would play my mom's copy of Michael Jackson's Off the Wall nonstop," he remembers. "There was a lot of Stevie Wonder and the Temptations in the mix, too, as well as some James Taylor and Neil Diamond. It was this cool combination of pop smashes and blue-collar songwriters." With his newest release, Chances, Halperin ramps up the beat and bounce of his own sound, nodding to the pop music he heard during those childhood listening sessions. Filled with horn arrangements, super-sized choruses, and hooks reminiscent of 1980s radio hits, Chances bridges the gap between past and present, connecting Halperin's influences with something modern. At the core of the album is Halperin's voice — a soulful instrument that earned him a spot on American Idol in 2011, laying the brickwork for a career that's since sent Halperin to Number One on the iTunes singer/songwriter chart — and a reliance on honest, heartfelt songwriting. If the seven songs on Chances sound bright and optimistic, it's because Halperin has every reason to count his blessings. He's a married man who's been making music for a living for nearly a decade. His music has been heard in venues across the country, thanks to a touring history that includes shows alongside Jason Derulo, Kelly Clarkson, and the Fray. Companies like Apple and L'Oréal have handpicked his music to help promote their products. Why shouldn't he be happy?   On the giddy "Weightless," he mixes polished pop and percussive R&B in equal doses, gluing everything together with lyrics about his wife. "This song came at a time when everything seemed to be going my way," he says of the track. "I wanted it to evoke the feeling of being weightless, where nothing can drag you down." Elsewhere, Halperin channels Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars during "Work For It," then rides a percussive groove with "Call Me Crazy." The album's funky closer, "Break For It," channels the glory days of Motown, while other songs pay tribute to the glory days of Reagan-era pop music. It's a sound that targets the heart, head, and feet — a sound that's built not only for the stage, but also for the dance floor. For years, Halperin has built his audience the old-school way: by hitting the road and playing shows, banging away at his keyboard while singing songs about his own life. Chances finds him turning a new page. There's plenty of piano here, but it's joined by danceable drumbeats, thumping bass, horns, and even the occasional gospel choir. The result is the most immediate-sounding record of his career, with songs that plant one foot in the familiar appeal of his influences and point the other toward new, unexplored territory. Halperin is taking chances… and those chances are paying off.

Louisiana-born Andy Davis broke onto the scene in 2004 with a charming, acoustic debut called “Thinks of Her,” that quickly spread among college campuses nationwide. Based in Nashville then, Davis starting touring full-time, sharing the stage with artists such as Jakob Dylan, Colbie Caillat, Marc Broussard, needtobreathe, Dave Barnes and more. Since then, Davis has released seven studio projects, including two produced by Mitchell Froom (Sheryl Crow, Crowded House, Randy Newman), one of which was made possible by a Kickstarter campaign that raised over $40,000 in 30 days. Davis was also a founding member of Nashville’s “Ten Out of Tenn” — a critically-acclaimed collective of singer/songwriters (including Katie Herzig, Griffin House, Andrew Belle, K.S. Rhoads, etc) who joined forces in super-band fashion for a collaborative tour, documented in the award-winning PBS film, “Any Day Now,” and going on to perform at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. In 2020, Davis relocated to Austin, TX, where he has been writing towards his next project. A multi-instrumentalist with old-school charm and a pulse for the often irregular heartbeat of human relationships, Andy Davis continues to engage longtime fans and win new ones.  

Singer, songwriter and producer Latifah Alattas opens her heart and soul with Moda Spira, a project marked by an uncommon emotional honesty and melodies brimming with tenderness. Her intimate vocals are complimented by music that wraps you in its comforting warmth and draws you into the embrace of the heart’s deep core. “In Latin, moda spira means the continual act of breathing,” Alattas says. “I began writing to explore what intimacy means, in all its beautiful and maddening aspects. There are times in relationships that are so intense, you find yourself saying, ‘Just keep breathing!’ Like loving, breathing is something you have to do everyday to feel alive. Moda Spira felt like the perfect title for this project.” Alattas has a long resume that includes time as a solo artist and work with Page CXVI, a band that reinterprets traditional hymns, the indie rock band Autumn Film and Sola-Mi, an experimental trio. She has produced albums for indie artists, including A Boy & His Kite, helping them place “Cover Your Tracks” on the soundtrack for Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part II. Her songs have been featured on One Tree Hill, The Gates, Lifetime Films and the film The House at the End of the Street. She’s also composed incidental music for MTV and E! Moda Spira is her return to solo performing. Her sophomore release Divorce is out everywhere now.

Alaina Stacey grew up with three brothers in a musical family in Chicago. Kicked out of the house for making too much noise while her older brothers and dad were recording in their home studio, three year old Alaina went outside in a tutu to throw a sophisticated tea party in the middle of nearby construction rubble with her best friend Rory. Dusty and dirty from head to toe, Alaina ambled back in the house singing a song she had just made up for her tea party co-host. The family quickly recorded it, documenting her first song, So Sad. She was then given a bath and sent off to bed. From that moment on, the toddler was hooked. In her formative years, Alaina drew from a host of rock, pop and musical theater influences, crushes and emotional rescues: Ben Folds, *NSYNC, No Doubt, Counting Crows, Death Cab for Cutie, Jack’s Mannequin, Evanescence, Bruce Springsteen, Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine, Tom Waits, Hanz Zimmer, Alan Menken, Destiny’s Child, Ne-Yo, Eminem, The Fray, OutKast, Rihanna, Maroon 5, The Killers, Britney Spears, Coldplay, Wilco, and Goo Goo Dolls. The impact of these influences is not stylistic, but is reflected in the emotional imprint they convey.   She discovered country music on a rafting trip in Utah with her dad when she was 10. She began listening to Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and Taylor Swift. When she was just 16, Christian Century magazine stated that Alaina sounded like the long-lost little sister of Emmylou Harris, with high lonesome ‘woos’ that conveyed “a whirlwind full of autumn shivers.” Two years later, as a teenage actress, the young Chicagoan caught the attention of theatre critics Chris Jones (Chicago Tribune) and Hedy Weiss (Chicago Sun-Times) during Alaina’s lead role in Profile’s Theatre’s Midwest premiere of Dream of the Burning Boy. Weiss described “her knockout of a performance, playing a nerdy girl devastated by the sudden death of her brother”. Jones highlighted her performance in his year-end review of the best of Chicago Theater, calling Alaina “powerful” in Burning Boy. Soon after, Weiss unexpectedly found Alaina on stage performing original songs. Weiss wrote in the Sun-Times: “I was impressed by her lush voice, her captivating melodies and lyrics, and her wholly easeful stage presence.” Weiss wrote that she fully expected the young Alaina to stay in Chicago to act on countless other stages. Instead, she headed to Nashville to launch a music career.   One year after founding the Nashville based Americana group, Maybe April, Alaina appeared onstage with her group at the Wilshire Theatre in Los Angeles, alongside Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson and The Goo Goo Doll’s Johnny Reznick as part of a GRAMMY week performance called A Song Is Born. Their Audiotree video went viral, and they remain one of Audiotree’s top twenty most popular videos. With Maybe April, she opened for Brandy Clark and Sarah Jarosz, and performed at Pilgrimage Music Festival, Merlefest, SXSW, CMA Fest, and other festivals, and released an EP and record, The Other Side, which was produced by her brother Julian. The band won “Americana Group of the Year'' two years in a row at the Arkansas Country Music Awards. In her first release, this whimsical young woman offers a peek into the old soul within her, where heartbreak, worldliness and a romantic spirit reside. Her brothers are excited about this release and have forgiven her for interrupting their recording session.

Jeff Seitz had sold his soul to rock and roll long before completing his classical training at the Juilliard School of Music. One of the top students of famed New York Philharmonic tympanist Saul Goodman, Jeff was playing with the Greenwich Philharmonic and the New Jersey Symphony when the lure of rock star fame drew the north Jersey native into a variety of successful bands, performing with such diverse musicians as legendary bluesman Long John Baldry and Renaissance keyboardist Raphael Rudd. In 1980 a two-week U.S. tour as drum tech for The Police turned into three world tours and almost four decades of collaboration with Police drummer Stewart Copeland, with Jeff producing and recording Stewart’s film and television scores. Jeff even filled in as the Police’s drummer when Stewart was ill on tour, adapting his own technique to replicate Stewart’s distinctive style.

  Saxophonist Jake Botts is a dynamic and versatile musician with a bebop and soul-influenced vocabulary, a unique sense of melody, and a pure, powerful, tone. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, he graduated with honors from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City in 2017. Shortly after relocating to Nashville, TN, Jake established himself as one of the premier freelance instrumentalists in Music City’s rapidly expanding creative music scene. Jake has toured throughout America, Europe, and Asia with prominent artists including Kelly Clarkson, Cory Wong, Lauren Diagle, and more.           In addition to his work with the aforementioned artists, Jake has performed and/or recorded with John Legend, Meghan Trainor, Gladys Knight, Victor Wooten, Dan + Shay, the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and countless others. He has performed on NBC’s The Kelly Clarkson Show, The TODAY show, the Billboard Music Awards, and countless other television appearances          In addition to his sideman ventures, Jake is also an accomplished bandleader and songwriter, regularly hosting jazz jam sessions in Nashville and releasing his 2022 debut LP, Global Works, under his own name.  He is also a founding member of the Nashville afrobeat/world music project, Crooked Rhythm Band #1. Jake Botts endorses and exclusively plays Drake Mouthpieces.