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In today’s music scene a piano driven pop song is a dime a dozen. Most lack substance & are easily forgotten lyrically, if anyone even takes the time to notice the lyrics in the first place. For many of the indie artists coming out of Nashville though this couldn’t be further from the truth. After all in Nashville it all starts with a well written song. Today’s Free Music Friday artist, Ben Rector, is someone who is making great piano driven music that’s backed by rememberable, thought provoking lyrics.

Ben Rector started writing music in high-school & even formed a band while living in Oklahoma. Where his music really started gaining attention though was during his college years at the University of Arkansas. While there he recorded his first EP. On it was the song “Conversation” which earned him the Grand Prize at the John Lennon Songwriting contest in 2006 in the pop category. Ben won this award at just 20 years old, making him the youngest to do so. Proof of Ben’s talent is evident on every record he has recorded since. His first full length album 2007’s “Twenty Tomorrow” contains the award winning song “Conversation” & the song “Hank”, a song written to his one month old brother with word’s of advice that Ben has learned along the way. His second full length album, 2008’s “Songs that Duke Wrote”, contain lyrically rich songs like “After All”, & “Ready for Change”. “Ready for Change” talks about the crossroads we all come to in our lives where we desire for so much more but how it’s hard to let go of the temptations & the wrongs in our past. Ben sings of how it’s best to let it all go & become a better person, no matter how hard the struggle is. Ben’s follow up, 2010’s “Into the Morning”, is his best to date.  “Into the Morning” contains songs that are not only catchy, like “The Beat”, “Loving You Is Easy” & “When I Get There”, but also songs that are lyrically rich like “Moving Backwards”, & “And Then You Love Someone”. The strongest song on the record is “When A Heart Breaks”, today’s free track. The song is about those moments of extreme heartache that bring us to our knees, where all our doubts & confusions in God fade. It’s the kind of song that reminds us of why Ben won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the first place. To hear even more great music from Ben Rector make sure to visit NoiseTrade.com. Songs like “Hank”, “The Beat” & “The Kill” can all be had for free in exchange for your e-mail address.  Also visit BenRectorMusic.com for a full list of EPs & CDs including Ben’s 2009 Christmas album entitled “Jingles & Bells”.

Ben Rector is currently on the “The Beat Lives Forever” tour with Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors. He is making stops in TX,OK & AR to wrap up the tour so make sure to visit BenRectorMusic.com for up to date venues & times. I caught their show in Nashville & it’s definitely not one to be missed!

www.benrectormusic.com