” I PUT ALOT OF MY PAST AND PRESENT INTO THESE SONGS, AND THEN IN AN UNNERVING SORT OF WAY, I WATCHED OTHER SONGS BECOME MY LIFE.”

THE STORIES THAT BONNER RHAE CRAFTED INTO FORWARD ADDRESS, HER RECENTLY RELEASED ALBUM, TOOK ON AN ALMOST CLAIRVOYANT PROPERTY AS THEY CAME TO FRUITION. “IT WAS ALMOST AS IF I SUBCONSCIOUSLY ANTICIPATED A FUTURE THAT I STRUGGLED TO ACCEPT FOR MYSELF.”

WITHIN A COMPACT EIGHT-SONG COLLECTION, SHE INTRODUCES LISTENERS TO HER BLEND OF UNPRETENTIOUS COUNTRY. THE INFLUENCE OF FELLOW LONE STAR SINGER-SONGWRITERS LIKE MIRANDA LAMBERT AND MAREN MORRIS WEAVES THROUGHOUT SONGS ABOUT YOUNG LOVE AND SUBSEQUENT HEARTBREAK, THE POWER HELD INSIDE OF MOVING ON AND WHAT IT IS TO HAVE SMALL-TOWN DREAMS, TO CHOOSE TO CHASE THEM, OR WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON’T.

RHAE GREW UP IN ALVIN, TEXAS, A HALF-HOUR OUTSIDE OF HOUSTON. “MY PARENTS ALWAYS ENCOURAGED MUSIC IN OUR HOUSE,” SHE SAYS. “THEY’VE SAID I CAME OUT SINGING, AND AS FAR BACK AS I CAN REMEMBER, I WAS ENCOURAGED TO KEEP DOING SO.” AFTER TEACHING HERSELF TO PLAY THE GUITAR, SHE LEARNED THE POWER OF PUTTING FEELINGS TO WORDS AND WORDS TO MUSIC, BOTH NATURAL STEPS THAT QUICKLY FOLLOWED.

“FORWARD ADDRESS IS FULL OF SUBTLE TEXAS INFLUENCE, “WHISKEY WISHING”—RHAE’S FIRST CO-WRITE—WAS PENNED WITH JAMIE LIN WILSON, ONE OF THE STATE’S STRONGEST SONGWRITING EXPORTS, AND KYLE HUTTON, A PRODUCER ON THE ALBUM AND ONE OF RHAE’S MENTORS. THE ALBUM WAS ALSO CO-PRODUCED WITH WALT WILKINS, A STORIED SONGWRITING LEGEND IN THE STATE’S MUSIC SCENE.

“I DIDN’T FEEL LIKE I HAD ANYTHING OUT IN THE WORLD THAT GAVE ANY REAL GLIMPSE OF MY POTENTIAL,” SHE SAYS OF FORWARD ADDRESS.

WRITING THESE SONGS AND GOING THROUGH THE PROCESS OF GETTING THEM OUT INTO THE WORLD ALLOWED ME TO LEARN MORE THAN I COULD HAVE EXPECTED ABOUT MYSELF AND WHAT I WANTED FOR MY LIFE AND EMBOLDENED ME TO TAKE OWNERSHIP OF THE DIRECTION OF MY PATH. I HOPE THIS COLLECTION OF SONGS INSPIRES THOSE FEELINGS IN THE HEARTS OF ITS LISTENERS.”