Justin Posey

North Mississippi’s scarily good pop songwriter grew up a little bit, and wrote a record about it. The result is “Bending Love,” his first full-length album. It’s mostly just the Saltillo native and his guitar, but really, when the songwriting is this good, that’s all you need. - Sheena Barnett

Posey has spent the latter half of the '00s finding his place in the local music scene. The Saltillo singer-songwriter started out as a member of the popular rock band fourtoomany, but then gave up on music when the band dissolved.

He returned to music in 2008 with his solo "The Seasonal EP," then joined the Jackson-based pop-rock band Fox Chase Drive. Posey has since parted ways with the group, and he's back on his solo track.

In late January, he'll release his debut full-length record, "Bending Love," which will be full of his signature acoustic pop sound.

"I'm really excited," the 23-year-old said. "It's my first full-length record, and that's just a lot of me going into the hands of listeners."

'Bending Love'

Posey recorded the 10-track album with Bobby Hudspeth and Cody Hickman, members of the Tupelo indie band The Embrace, in Hudspeth's home.

Posey wrote about love and heartbreak on "The Seasonal EP," and he returned to those themes for "Bending Love."

"Lyrically it's a lot more intimate, a lot more from the heart," he said. "It's a lot more me."

Posey admits love has been a big theme for him.

"A lot of it was written at the end of a relationship, and a lot of it was written at the beginning of a relationship," Posey said, "all with the hope that real love can last."

The album title says it all.

"Love can bend but not break -- it can take all the bad and all the good and not break," he said.

Though love is a central theme on this record, Posey looks forward to exploring new themes in 2010.

"I kind of want to stay away from writing about love ... I want to write more life songs, but I still want to write more happy, fun songs," he said. "That's what music is about, is relating to whatever you're saying. If you write a song no one can relate to, that song is no good."

Contact Daily Journal writer Sheena Barnett at 678-1580 or sheena.barnett@djournal.com. Also read her entertainment blog, Scene Now, at NEMS360.com/pages/scene_now.

-- Get the tunes

Justin Posey's debut solo record, "Bending Love," is available now for pre-order on his MySpace page.

His EP, "Seasonal EP," is available for free at purevolume.com/justinposey, and it's also on iTunes and emusic.com.

-- Hitting No. 1

Justin Posey was recently No. 1 on the music Web site Pure Volume.

He offered his EP, "The Seasonal EP," for free on the site. "I'd rather people have it for free than not have it all," he said. The site's editors fell in love with his tunes and featured him on the Pure Volume front page. His downloads shot him up to No. 1 on the site's charts.

"It was really like a dream," he said. - Daily Journal: Sheena Barnett