Justin Branam teams up for charitable iPhone Sessions

Using the same formula that allowed Justin Branam to raise money to record his next album, Branam teams up with a bunch of friends to help raise money for charity. The homeless in Nashville to be exact. On iPhone Sessions Hope Vol. 1, these Nashville based artists do what they do best: play lovely stripped down sets where allows their talent to truly shine. The seamless recording via iPhone helps to provide an intimacy you might expect in a small bar. The compilation features several Ten Out of Tenn artist like Andrew Belle, Katie Herzig, Tyler James, and KS Rhoads, as well as several artists I personally never encountered before like folsky quintet Neulore, lovely singer/songwiter Amy Stroup, harmony-weaving duo Elenowen, bluesy crooner Seth Philpott, ethereal siren Alva Leigh, and sweet-voiced Steve Moakler. The compilation is available here at a pay-what-you-want rate but before you think to download it for free, think about helping the artists raise money for Nashville Rescue Mission and People Loving Nashville. You'll be glad you did. And for more info on the compilation, the artists and the charities go here.

Pitstop: Justin Branam

My discovery of Justin Branam was a happy little accident and says a lot about the awesomeness of social networking sites. You see, Andrew Belle retweeted one of Branam's tweets that I found humorous as well as true. The tweet went as follows: "Someone needs to publish a concert goers etiquette pamphlet". I retweeted it, and Branam thanked me for the retweet. I then decided to check out the Nashville based singer/songwriter and was quite pleased with the result. Turns out I had heard of Justin Branam before.
Justin Branam recorded a couple songs via his iPhone and release them to raise money for the recording of his next album. A pretty sweet method of both recording and of raising money. Once again, I heard about this from Andrew Belle, via tweet. Intrigued by the concept, I headed over to Justin Branam's MySpace to give his music a listen. Braham's vocals are the perfect blend of not-too-husky robustness and tender soul-stirring ethereality and his guitar playing works to perfectly compliment them.

Get a taste of Branam's delightfully good folk-influenced guitar pop with "Dial Tone" from his iPhone Sessions.


As a result of Branam raising money via his iPhone Sessions, you can expect a new album from him soon. Til then, you can listen to his music including his now out of print debut album Words Worth Mentioning and Branam's rousing collaboration with a string quartet, his Introducing Justin Branam EP via his MySpace here.