Ava Valianti represents something increasingly rare in contemporary music: genuine precocity without artifice. This Massachusetts artist, who is only fifteen years old, handles general themes with a level of emotional depth that is shocking. She shows that youth can bring out the best in complicated human experiences, rather than hiding them. "Distant," her sixth single, functions as a sonic archaeology of friendship's dissolution. The track excavates layers...

Joshua Ketchmark is a Nashville-based country-rock musician who is quickly becoming known as a promising newcomer in the music business. Joshua grew up in a rural part of Illinois. He became interested in music because he heard a lot of different songs on the radio and on the records that his parents had. After he graduated from high school, he moved to Nashville, where he...