Christa Black

In her song "California Sunshine," singer-songwriter Christa Black croons that, "she'd just love to get away to Cali-For-Ni-A." Wouldn't we all?

Though Black claims she'll always be a Texan at heart, after one spin through her newly released album, you'd never guess that this gal wasn't 100% authentic Cali. Her light and wistful vocals reminds us of Colbie Caillat's classic west coast vibe, but the message behind her music reminds us of someone else... maybe Oprah? Ok, so we're exaggerating just a tad, but unlike many of the artist's on today's top 40 charts, Christa Black's music has a clear and positive message: be true to who you are and stay strong when life gets tough.

In fact, Christa is so passionate about this message that she chose to release a book in conjunction with her album. "God Loves Ugly," is a fun yet moving tale of Christa's personal hardships, and how she used a positive outlook to overcome them. We know they say to never judge a book by its cover, but at first glance it's easy to think that this book is driven by religious messages. Rather, the book promotes optimism, and urges reader's to appreciate all the gift's they've been given.

When chatting with Christa about her book, we couldn't help but ask about the inspiration...and we're very glad we did. Both her book and album were largely inspired by Christa's experiences on tour with...THE JONAS BROTHERS! Yep. This gal has toured with the one and only JoBro's. "I started a blog while I was out on the road with the Jonas Brothers for the thousands of screaming girls we were in front of every night. I thought, ‘If I could just be the big sister I never had, maybe I can potentially help someone avoid the potholes and mountains I found out about the hard way'... After thousands and thousands of emails asking me for a book, I figured I had better get to work!" And that she did. Christa's book hasn't even been out for six months and it's already selling tons of copies.

With a new album out and a hot book that's flying off the shelves, things for Christa are looking up. But, we're sure if we asked her, it wouldn't be the sales that she's most excited about. For Christa, the fact that she's touched even one person is payment enough.

Get more Christa on her website, MySpace and of course you can follow her on Twitter. And as always, let us know what you think about this new music find in the comments section below!

-Jenna Hally Rubenstein - Seventeen Magazine