News/Coming soon
Our Next Nashville Single, “Rocker Girl” drops May 3rd and is available to pre-save on Spotify!
*Our Music Video “Here” Won “Best Love Song,” by the California Music video Awards and Taste TV San Fransisco, and was nominated for “Best Country” and “Duet” music video!
Straight Out of Nashville About Our New Singles Dropping in 2024:
Ariel Jean - Three singles
Debuting first song Feb. 9, 2024
For some, the roots of country music stretch far and wide. Just ask rising singer-songwriter Ariel Jean.
Jean, a native of Sacramento, California, remembers writing her first country tune as an 18-year-old high schooler, cruising Pacific coast highways with a close friend, soaking up the sights of rural Oregon and Washington. The song? She called it “Free Country Girl,” a spirit Jean still embodies a decade-and-a-half later as she continues to bloom as an artist and performer, singing the music she loves.
“This dream is something that has always been with me from the very beginning and I can't really explain it but it's like I'm being drawn to it like a magnet,” Jean said. “I have to be around music or playing it or I feel like I'm not fulfilling my destiny.”
This year, Jean debuts a trio of singles – “Honky Tonk Queen,” “Rocker Girl” and “On My Way To You,” which hits digital platforms Feb. 9 – that shows the world that she’s a impassioned, big-voiced and no-nonsense star-in-the-making with an appetite for lively country-rock tunes.
Or, in her words: “I really think I've written some of the best songs I ever have … I challenged myself and got out of my comfort zone. You can't grow if you stay comfortable.”
Prior to finding country music (via a love for Miranda Lambert and the Chicks, no less), Jean was raised on jazz, church choirs and family campfire singalongs. Cutting her teeth at open mic nights, local stages and occasional trips to perform inside Nashville’s bustling Lower Broadway honky-tonk district, Jean often shares stages and studio booths with her sisters – an experience described as “magical.” In California, her dedication to performing has led to performing slots on bills boasting likes of Sam Hunt, Tim McGraw and Ernest, among others.
With new single “On My Way To You,” listeners hear the open-road, dream-chasin’ country storytelling that’s been captivating Jean’s live audiences.
In the high-flying chorus, she sings: “I grab my guitar and I play every day, trying to make it big/ dreams are headin’ my way … Music, I’m on my way to you.”
Jean described the song as being “about how we have this draw towards music that we can't explain and everyone thinks we're nuts but it's worth it taking a chance on something you love so much. So, there you are, buying more concert tickets or playing another stage.”
Jean decamped to Nashville to cut her trip of new songs, working at Soul Train Sound Studios with Nick Gibbens, a producer with credits including Country Music Hall of Famer Marty Stuart and buzzworthy singer-songwriter Bryan Martin. The session included tracks for sought-after guitarists Sol Philcox-Littlefield (who’s worked with Luke Combs and Kelsea Ballerini, among others) and Tim Galloway (who’s strummed on songs for Luke Bryan, Keith Urban and more), Jean said.
“This team of musicians and engineers and the producer worked so professionally, fast and the level of talent was unbelievable to witness,” she said. “We honestly did not even feel worthy of being there to record with this incredible team, but are so thankful because the songs sound amazing and we can't wait for everyone to hear them.”
No song may display the energy and proficiency Jean saw in the studio like neon-soaked jam “Honky Tonk Queen,” a three-and-a-half-minute tribute to the women who set fire to stages in Nashville and beyond.
“I was inspired by the first time I ever went to Nashville and just saw all these incredible queens absolutely crushing it on the stages up and down Broadway and at the writers rounds,” Jean said. “Seeing other women dominate and be successful is so incredibly inspiring.”
With the release of new music, Jean continues to deepen her dedication to songwriting. In recent years, she battled postpartum complications after the birth of her second child, but pushed herself past creative complacency by taking bonafide guitar lessons, which Jean said pushed her out of a comfort zone in a needed time.
Push “play” on “Rocker Girl” to hear the effort Jean put into this round of songwriting. On the song, she introduces listeners to an ass-kicking woman with a one-of-a-kind rock playlist.
“My friend inspired this song because we were talking one night and I asked him what his type was and he said, ‘Oh, I love rocker girls. Like out in the mosh pit, straight out of Hot Topic, riding a Harley." This came shocking to me as he's kind of a cowboy in the country music scene – but a rocker at heart). I was like, 'Dang, that's a cool song. A cowboy who's only into rocker girls.'”
And for Jean, these three songs are only the latest addition to a career in country music that continues to grow.
“You know, when people ask me what inspired me to chase this dream, I didn't really choose it, music chose me,” she said.
You May Have Seen us At Golden Sky Music Festival or in Nashville!
