Listening to Arnold J.’s new single, "Muddy Waters," isn't quite like anything else swirling around right now. It arrives with the gentle insistence of incoming tide, pulling you into its specific gravity. Arnold J., Ghanaian-born and now Canada-based, weaves a sound tagged as alt-country and folk, but those labels feel thin, like trying to contain smoke. There’s earthiness, sure, but his soulful vocal lines...

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...