Independent artist and radio favorite JJ Heller is set to release her fourth full-length CD WHEN I’M WITH YOU to digital and retail outlets October 19, 2010 through New Day Christian Distribution. Produced by Mitch Dane and Ben Shive, When I’m With You takes a deep, introspective look at relationships, both person-to-person and person-to-God
“Since, this is the first project I’ve released after having our baby girl, Lucy, I had a chance to explore the love of a mother for her child in a few songs,” JJ shares. “The songs on this record also navigate the ups and downs of interactions with our friends, our family and with the Lord. Meaningful relationships are the source of some of the deepest joys we can experience in this life, but when we open up, we also make ourselves vulnerable to encounter a lot of suffering. In the end, a full life is not lived alone. It took two years to gather material for the record, and I think it’s certainly the strongest group of songs I’ve ever had one album. I can safely say that it’s my favorite.”
Leading up to the release of the CD, the song “What Love Really Means” has just begun to garner spins on radio stations across the country, and JJ continues her steady touring schedule on a two-month run on the Today Tour with 33 Miles and Chris and Conrad.
“My newest single, ‘What Love Really Means,’ is a very special song to me. It’s actually a new version of a song that I wrote 5 years ago called ‘Love Me,’” JJ explains. “Out of all the songs I’ve written, this song came to me the fastest, and connects with my listeners on the deepest levels. I normally labor over my songs, but I know it’s a song that God wanted me to share with others because of the way that it just fell onto the page.”
Heller achieved unexpected attention last year, when Diana Drexler chose JJ’s song “Your Hands” as her audition song on So You Think You Can Dance?. One of the 6.8 million viewers of the show was Jon Hull, station manager for the Houston-based radio station KSBJ. His station’s decision to add an independent artist to their playlist for the first time in 4 years sparked a wave that ended up growing to 60 stations, including the K-Love network, and landed the song on Billboard Magazine’s Christian Radio chart for 24 weeks.
During this time, JJ’s album Painted Red, which featured “Your Hands,” ended up charting on Billboard’s Folk Albums chart, peaking at the #12 position. More recently, Heller’s songs were heard on ABC Family’s show Make It Or Break It and on the CW’s One Tree Hill, and Plain Jane.
“I’m amazed to see the ways that God has used my music over the past year,” Heller says. “All this publicity wasn’t something I was intentionally pursuing, so it makes it that much more obvious to me that it’s what the Lord wanted. It’s been fun to watch Him work in my life and through my music, and I’m excited to see what He has in store for the future.”
JJ Heller – When I’m With You, releasing to stores and digital outlets October 19, 2010 through New Day Distribution.
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