For Jillette Johnson the journey has been as integral to her musical experience as the destination. Jillette, who began taking music lessons and penning songs as a child, has been performing live since she was 12, captivating audiences with her sultry, thoughtful piano-driven tunes. The musician, now 24, has spent the last decade cultivating her sound and defining her unique perspective. When she moved to New York City from her small town of Pound Ridge, NY at 18, Jillette was already familiar with the city and its clubs, from Sidewalk Cafe to The Bitter End to Rockwood Music Hall.  In early 2012, Jillette inked a deal with Wind-up Records, who were drawn in by her track “Cameron,” an inspirational number that explores the struggle of a transgendered person whom Jillette knows. The song appeared on the singer’s five-track EP, Whiskey & Frosting, which came out in August 2012, a prelude to her June 25, 2013 Wind-up Records’ debut album release, Water In A Whale. Culled from six months worth of recording sessions at Wind-up’s New York studio, the album traces Jillette’s experiences and ideas about living in the city and being young in today’s society. She finished the album fall 2012, just before going out on tour, and as it turned out those weeks on the road shifted the musician’s sensibilities.  “There’s this funny thing that happens when you go on the road,” Jillette says. “Because you’re not around the people that you’re normally around and you’re in a different environment and you’re constantly being creative and putting out things. Your voice starts to change, both literally and figuratively. I just started growing really rapidly and my perspective started changing a lot. I got back two weeks before Christmas and I knew that we had to have everything done by the first of the year. So I had six months to make the record and two weeks to change everything. A lot of artists don’t get that opportunity, to be able to have the album that they made and come back and make tweaks. That’s pretty rare and I got to do it.” The final album, which features the five tracks found on Whiskey & Frosting, centers on Jillette’s soaring vocals and the sparse, haunting piano lines she wrote to accompany them. Produced by Peter Zizzo (Vanessa Carlton, Avril Lavigne) and Michael Mangini (Joss Stone, David Byrne), the album reveals Jillette’s pensive reflections on the world around her, all of which lead to a deeper understanding of self-identity. The real power comes from those songs about the musician herself, however and the rest of the album follows in tone. Water In A Whale opens with the explosive and powerful, “Torpedo,” a song about resilience. “I wrote it about my relationship with my career and my unwillingness to give up on my dream,” says Jillette. “I've been writing and playing music for whoever would listen since I was a little kid, and with that has come a lot of rejection and heartache. ‘Torpedo’ is about absorbing those blows to my ego and then bouncing right back up to fight.” The poignant “Cameron,” was written both from personal experience with someone the musician knows and from the idea of what it means to grapple with who you are. The glowing number focuses on what it means to be authentic to ones’ self, a universal theme. “I do have someone in my life that’s transgendered and I’ve learned a lot from this person,” Jillette says. “But I think I actually wrote ‘Cameron’ more about myself and about that feeling of being alien in your own skin. It’s been really awesome to play that song around the country and meet people who share stories that may have to do with being transgendered or may have to do with feeling a little bit different.”  “When the Ship Goes Down,” a hushed ballad, plays with the idea of the immortality you feel when you’re young while the sultry “Bassett Hound” offers an unbalanced account of unrequited love, based on, as Jillette says, “every time I showed too many of my cards and wanted someone too much.” The ethereal “Pauvre Coeur” treads similar ground, excising the anger the singer felt about a relationship that started to “devour” her. “True North,” a soaring and epic number written in that urgent two-week period last winter, touches on what it means to return home, a fulcrum for the musician’s ideas about her identity. “It’s about coming home and accepting the failures that you endure along the way,” Jillette says. “And realizing that you’re gonna have a place to come home to, and that’s the home inside your own head when all the other voices go away. Because they’re not you so they don’t care enough to stay that long. You’re still going to have your own voice and that’s what coming home means to me.” Jillette brings her impassioned live aesthetic onto the album, infusing each number with a sense of intimacy and fervor. The songs shift from light-hearted buoyancy of “Bassett Hound” to the heavy urgency of “Cameron,” showcasing a viable array of musical – and lyrical – inspiration. For Jillette, whose years of experience and practice have set her up for what’s to come, the goal is to bring these songs to life for as many people as possible.  “The next year or two I think are wide open, in terms of what amazing things could happen,” the singer says. “And I think it’s just up to me to work hard every day and have a lot of luck. I hope to really build my live show. I can’t get to hung up on what exactly will happen. It’s really just about every day playing my heart out and connecting with fans over human experiences.”

Daniel Tashian is a native Nashvillian who grew up with both parents being huge musical influences: both are songwriters. His father was in the world famous band, The Remains, who in 1966 garnered a coveted spot as opening act on The Beatles’ U.S. tour. Their life story has been chronicled in a recent documentary. Unlike the fate of his father’s band, which has been called "The Lost Band," Daniel has brought his music and his band, the Silver Seas, to light over the years with such hits as "Lifestyle" on Nashville radio, and the current song, "Imaginary Girl," currently being heard in a national commercial for Kenmore Appliances. Between writing for his band, recording for Cheap Lullabye Records, writing songs for the Nashville community and also being a multi-instrumentalist, Daniel is working on a duets album currently. His first record was produced by T-Bone Burnett, who most recently produced Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. Tashian has had placements on popular television shows like Private Practice (“The Best Things In Life”), Hart of Dixie (“High Time,” “High N Dry,” “State of Your Heart,” and “Pretending the Stars”), Pretty Little Liars(“Call it the Same”), and 16 & Pregnant (“Heartbreak Yellow”).  “Taking You With Me” was used in the comedy film, Our Idiot Brother and Estee Lauder used “Does it Rain Where You Are” for an advertising campaign.

Patrick Sweany likes the spaces in between. On a given night (or on a given album) he'll swing through blues, folk, soul, bluegrass, maybe some classic 50s rock, or a punk speedball. He's a musical omnivore, devouring every popular music sound of the last 70 years, and mixing 'em all together seamlessly into his own stew. Yet, the one thing that most people notice about Patrick isn't his ability to copy - it's his authenticity. Like his heroes, artists like Bobby "Blue" Bland, Doug Sahm, Joe Tex, Patrick somehow manages to blend all of these influences into something all his own.  It's no wonder that as a kid he immersed himself in his dad's extensive record collection: 60s folk, vintage country, soul, and, of course, blues. Patrick spent hours teaching himself to fingerpick along to Leadbelly, Lightnin' Hopkins, and other folk-blues giants.  In his late teens, Patrick began playing the clubs and coffeehouses around Kent, OH. He quickly gained a reputation for the intricate country blues style he was developing: part Piedmont picking, part Delta slide - with an equally impressive deep, smooth vocal style.  But Patrick wouldn't stay in the acoustic world for long. His love of 50s era soul and rock fused with the adrenaline-soaked garage punk revival happening throughout the Rust Belt pushed him to form a band.  After 6 critically acclaimed records (two produced by longtime collaborator Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys), Patrick has expanded his touring radius to 49 states and Europe. He's played premiere festivals (Newport Folk Fest, Merlefest, Montreal Jazz Fest, Telluride Blues & Brews) and supported international acts such as The Black Keys, The Tedeschi Trucks Band, The Wood Brothers, Hot Tuna, and others on tour.  His latest record, Daytime Turned To Nighttime, comes out in September 2015. It was recorded in his adopted community of E. Nasheville, TN and features contributions from long-time collaborator and producer Joe McMahan (Allsion Moorer, Webb Wilder), Ron Eoff (Cate Brothers, Levon Helm), Bryan Owings(Tony Joe White, Solomon Burke), among others. For Daytime Sweany took a fairly different approach than his usual raw, intense blues sound, opting for more subtle textures and playing. Seminal 70s records by Bill Withers, Bobbie Gentry and Bobby Charles & The Band provide the sonic blueprint, while Sweany wraps his trademark baritone and impeccable acoustic slide work around songs of longing, redemption and growing up.

Psychedelic space rock band, Flight Attendant, belongs to that unique breed of bands made in Nashville. It takes nothing less than a sonic unicorn to stand out in this town. And that’s exactly what the 5 piece band is: a fascinating ovni. “I think you could find some of our future tracks on ISS Radio in the year 2050” says frontwoman, Karalyne Winegarner of the band’s sound.   Blending heavy rock and grunge with pop hooks and light synth textures, they fearlessly bring together influences that span from Kings of Leon to Vivaldi and Lana Del Rey. And with their ecstatic live performances and hypnotic melodies, they have already established themselves as a local fans’ favorite ready for the national stage. “Nashville, TN itself has proved to be our greatest inspirational incubator. It has a certain air of influence and style that has really weeded itself into this project.” proclaims Winegarner   The 5 piece band (Karalyne Winegarner – vocals, piano, guitar, Vinny Maniscalco - lead guitar, Nikki Christie - viola, Derek Sprague - drums, and Mike Cottrell - bass) played The Basement East’s Tomato Arts Festival main stage to over 5,000 attendees and played to large or sold out crowds in venues across Nashville like The Basement, The Black Corner, The East Room, and more. Meanwhile, their previous singles, “Edge Back” and “Teeth” could be heard spinning on 102.9 The Buzz FM, and gathered over 200,000 streams. Flight Attendant’s “Man of Chaos” video was created during quarantine by the band shooting themselves on iPhones, with the final product assembled by the band’s viola player, Nikki Christie. Pulsating with powerful, electric energy, the upcoming single “Man of Chaos” was produced by Grammy Winning Charlies Yingling at the Blueroom Studios in Nashville. It is a robust, anthemic track that propels the listener into a trance-like state and serves as a fitting teaser of what’s to come. The band is currently hard at work creating their debut album also with Charles Yingling producing. With plans for their first album to be released this year by Moraine Music Group, Flight Attendant is ready for takeoff.