Eight years after he began touring while at the University of Arkansas and two years after his first entry into the Top Twenty on the Billboard Album Chart, Ben Rector is back with a new album and is feeling Brand New (August 28th, Aptly Named Recordings). The singer-songwriter's newest album marks a return to the spirit of his youth, when he was a music-crazed teenager playing guitar in his Tulsa bedroom. At that time, every new song was a discovery, and turning those songs into a career was just a dream. Since then, the twenty-eight year old has made that dream a reality, independently selling over 250,000 albums and 2,000,000 downloads. His four studio albums and 2014’s Live In Denver have repeatedly put him on top of the iTunes charts, leading to sold-out shows to fans who sing along with every word in theaters across the country. Rector has written hundreds of songs and played thousands of bills in his young career, but in the writing and recording of Brand New, he re-discovered the energy of his early days, with songs that have all the punch, power and promise of a debut record. Filled with rich string arrangements, percussion, pounding piano chords and effortless melodies, Brand New sounds anthemic. At the same time, its message is both sincere and humble, anchored by songs that are honest and meaningful. It's pop music with a purpose.  

It almost feels inevitable that Josie Dunne would become an artist of some kind. Although the musician and songwriter now calls Nashville home, she grew up in the suburbs of Chicago in an art-loving family. Everyone in Josie’s family creates. Her sister is a dancer, her older brother is a painter and her younger brother is a graphic designer and actor. For Josie, expression comes in the form of sincere, fun-loving pop music. Songs have always been part of Josie’s life. Her parents raised the kids on Stevie Wonder, Etta James and Ray Charles, the songs blaring through the stereo alongside Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Josie learned piano and taught herself guitar, and took singing lessons from her cousin. She knew early on that music was the right career path for her to pursue, and she began flying to Nashville every month during high school for writing sessions with various producers and co-writers. It was through these sessions that Josie began to understand what sorts of songs were right for her.   “I was writing with the who’s who of songwriters,” Josie says. “My idols. It was a really cool way to start writing and it helped me find my own style. I owe a lot of my development to my co-writers. Overall, I think Nashville is a really cool place to come into your own. More pop music is coming out of Nashville now and it’s exciting to be part of writing those rules. The community I’ve felt here is a huge part of who I am now.” For her first EP, “To Be The Little Fish,” Josie had a few specific goals. She wanted to capture the Motown-era music of her childhood, proving that soul music could feel cool again. The songs should feel modern but embrace those older influences, especially the use of horns. Josie worked with several collaborators, including Nathan Chapman (Taylor Swift, The Band Perry) and Amy Wadge (Ed Sheeran, Birdy), and got to lay down vocals for “Cool With It” at Nashville’s legendary Blackbird Studios. “Old School,” a fun, bubbly number, is the beating heart of the EP. When Josie laid it down she felt like she’s tapped into something essential and the other five songs came from there.   “It’s the first one we had where it was like ‘That’s it!’” she notes. “It’s been the centerpiece of what I’ve been writing since then and dictated what I wanted things to sound and feel like. I think love songs are super important. But a lot of them are about tainted love – and I’ve got my fair share of tainted love songs – but there’s something amazing about a song that’s super happy. That’s what I wanted to accomplish with ‘Old School.’ That’s a reflection of who I am. Life is good. There isn’t really much reason to complain. I believe everything I sing. There’s truth in all my songs, but hopefully in a way people haven’t heard yet.” The horns come into play on “Cool With it,” a satisfying pop song with a feel-good edge. Josie’s evocative, memorable vocals shine through, carrying the melody throughout. “The music I grew up on has given me a solid base for knowing what I like in a song,” she says.   “Listening to soul music makes you a better singer. It helps you feel everything you sing. And you have to feel what you sing.”   There’s a nerdy vibe embedded into the tunes, too, and Josie’s the first to admit that. She’s passionate about what she loves and she cares about things unabashedly. She loves learning, in any form, and that sensibility comes out in the lyrics. Her music isn’t just about being cool; it’s about being yourself and being authentic. Watching documentaries, movies and TV shows, and listening to podcasts has helped Josie understand that it’s essential to create an immersive feeling with her art. She brings in a lot of visual components onstage (as well as a live trumpet she’s been learning to play) and she hopes her music takes you somewhere special.   “Learning, to me, is really exciting,” Josie says. “That might be the ultimate nerdy thing to say, but that’s what I do for fun. In a lot of ways, movies and videos and podcasts really influence what I do. I get inspired by a world that is created in a visual way, whether it’s watching a movie or going to an aquarium and being surrounded by a tank of fish. It’s a world in itself. That’s something I try to do. I want to put the listener in this story and this other world.”   It’s a world you’ll want to hang out in.