17-year-old Presley Sullins Rains is ending her junior year of high school with her sophomore album release, American Summer. Her debut album, Catching Up came out last year, you can read about its release here.

Another year older, another year wiser, this album is a little different than the last.

“My last album was obviously, by the name, it was catching up on a lot of older songs. I had a couple of songs that I had written that didn't make it onto that album, and just in the last year since that album, I've been doing a lot of writing. I've come up with quite a few songs that I'm really proud of. I really wanted to get back in the studio and get those recorded,” said Presley.

The album is inspired by various American cultural themes found throughout the songs and is intended to highlight the beauty of the romanticized version of small-town American life. The songs are very acoustic-focused and centered around a “back porch jam” vibe.

“The concept of it builds on the aesthetic of small-town life. That's how I grew up, so that's always been very dear to me. The title track, which is called American Summer, very much sets the tone for that. The rest of the songs, they all kind of play into it in different ways, whether it's written about a situation I observed from somebody else or whether it's a fictional story song. I wrote one of those for the first time. It's called Lone Ranger, and it's about a bull rider's wife, and it's kind of set in the 80s in my head. So that is kind of stepping out of my comfort zone, doing something new and all of it does still play into the same idea of sort of community and just Americana, honestly,” said Presley.

American Summer was recorded in the same studio as Presley’s previous album, with Boston Davis. Ryan McCall is on guitar and Siggy West on bass, Mason Kinzie and Connor Helm on accompanying vocals. There are 13 songs- including two covers of her dad Chad Sullins’ songs, Like I Did and Only Girl. It also includes one song Presley wrote with her dad, Red High Tops, which she has reworked to fit her current style a bit better.

Having her first album under her belt, Presley was more prepared for the studio this time.

“Recording with Boston is always great, and Ryan and Siggy and everybody. Same dream team from last time, we brought them all back. Getting to work with that same team again this time just added to that increased comfort level. I was a lot more comfortable in the studio this time going in knowing what to expect. I will say something else that kind of changed this time, I have more musical ideas. My process is unique since I don't have a band that I play with. Obviously, me going in and recording something full band is a very different process than it is for a lot of people because we're really building the pieces of that song from scratch in the studio. There's a lot of creativity that has to go into that. For the most part in the last album I really did just sit back. These are some amazing musicians and I'm just like, what do you hear here? What do you think goes here? And we really built something beautiful out of that. But I do think I went into this session with some more specific ideas about what I wanted in some areas and they executed that. Sometimes I was like ‘actually I hate that’ and we took a little pivot. So, it's just this beautiful workshop and collaboration and honestly that's what music is all about so I'm just so happy with the team that I have,” said Presley.

Not only was Presley more comfortable with the recording and music building process during the making of this album, but the new songs on this album grew right along with her in the last year as well.

“I think I really stand behind the songwriting on these tracks differently than I did on the last one. The last one was kind of me looking back with fondness on some songs I had written that were older, that maybe I didn't feel reflected my current writing style as much, but I was still proud of them in a different way. That's why I recorded them. On this album, most of these songs are new. There's a couple of little throwbacks in there, but I'm still pretty proud of them writing wise. There's several songs on this album that I truly feel are the best possible reflection of my skills as a writer and how they've developed since the last album,” said Presley.

But like with her first album, Presley chose to record some of her dad’s songs as well.

“Only Girl is my favorite song of my dad's. Maybe it comes from when I was really little, just the very first line, she looks pretty in pink. As a little girl it was the sweetest song to me. I just think it's beautiful. I love that opening guitar riff. Especially as a kid, every time I heard that, I just thought it was so beautiful. Not just on a lyrical level, but also all of the work on the guitar has always just been so beautiful to me and it honestly has inspired me in a lot of different ways. In my songs, to be like, how can I open this in a way that is just captivating? Honestly Ryan takes over on all of that for sure and he does an amazing job. But on this song, I just really wanted to record it because I knew that I wanted to do something with it that made it special to me. I brought in my friend Connor Helm to duet with me on the song. He is singing the first verse, I am singing the second verse, which I actually changed the pronouns on to make it a duet. Just a little bit of a difference. He harmonized on the chorus, and so it just adds this amazing layer that obviously wasn't present on the original. I was able to tell myself I will always have the original to listen to, the point of this is not for it to just be a second version for someone to listen to, but to add a different layer to it. I really embraced that and Connor's amazing, so he just came in and did his thing. I did not really have to give him any direction, and I'm just so incredibly happy with a little bit of touch of blues that's on it,” said Presley.

American Summer will be released on the 4th of July, just in time for America’s 250th anniversary, tying it completely into the American vibes of the album.

“It's a very distinct aesthetic. I think the theme of this album for me, it's not random, necessarily. It's kind of my meditation on the things that I love about our country. Obviously, there's so much division across our country, politically and in so many different ways. I think there's a lot of things people disagree with, things in our government and just things about the way our country is being run. I just think that it's still sad for me to see those people kind of turn their back on America and say they're ashamed to be American because of that. Because I think as Americans, it's never been about our government, and it's never been about America being the sum of its worst parts. To me, America is about the diversity in our country and how that makes us so beautiful. America is about the beautiful landscapes and the beautiful nature and the absolute range of that that we have from our coast to coast. It's about our values and about the best of us, and the Southern hospitality and the kindness that you will get from people. I've experienced that in my small-town upbringing. I really wanted to reflect in this album some of the things that I love the most about being American because no matter how you feel about different things, I think that being American will always be something I'm proud of just because of the sum of our very best parts,” said Presley.

Presley approaches music and her music career in a very different way than most people do. She is very involved in different things as a high school student, from band to FFA. She knows she wants to experience high school and all that is has to offer and not just rush through it all. She recognizes that it’s a fleeting part of life and all she has is right now to enjoy and experience it.

“I don't play a lot of gigs. I don't put myself out there a lot. High school and all of the stereotypical things that come with that is very important to me and truly I know that I have the rest of my life to create music and to immerse myself in the music scene. I want to take in and enjoy every single thing about this season, and I want to improve myself as a writer. What's important to me about still making these albums amongst that is that I kind of get to create these landmarks of where I'm at in my journey. I just think it's going to be so pleasant to be able to look back on that. I know that people would look at me and definitely say I'm not a traditional musician because I'm not living that lifestyle and I'm not putting all of my energy into that full force right now, but honestly, that's something that I'm really happy with. Songwriting is my love and writing and poetry has always been my joy. And so that's what I'm truly focusing on, and honestly, what I'm chasing is not necessarily anyone else's idea of success in music, but just a constant connection with my creative side and a constant connection with the Red Dirt family that has raised me. I always want to be connected to that and immersed in that, even if it's in a way that just focuses on my writing,” said Presley.

In fact, playing music isn’t her biggest goal or dream in general.

“My biggest dream, honestly, is to hear someone else singing my songs, and I don't know if that maybe is different from what some people would say. A lot of times when I write a song, I will hear it in someone else's voice in my head because I just value that above everything else, above my own delivery. It's so important to me just for other people to hear what I have to say, if it could have meaning to them. It's just that I know there’s so many amazing songwriters, especially in Red Dirt, who have changed my life in the way that their songs have connected to me. And so, if I ever write something that could be that impactful for someone else, I just want that to reach the people that might need it. Whatever form that comes in for me, I'm going to be very happy with that,” said Presley.

Presley has been conveniently situated in the Red Dirt music scene her entire life, giving her plenty of up close access and opportunity to be inspired by many different artists.

“My biggest inspirations in music are John Fullbright and Ken Pomeroy. Obviously, they’re incredible musicians both instrumentally and as songwriters, and I’m working to improve in those areas, but most of all I am so captivated by their style. They capture so much emotion in their music and they truly exemplify Americana, and that’s definitely something I’m striving towards, because I feel like that’s the corner of music that suits me the best and is the most authentic expression of who I am,” said Presley.

While high school takes up most of her time, she still has a passion for writing and creating albums as a sort of snapshot in time of where she is in her writing and artistic journey.

“I just think it's cool to have that time stamp of where I'm at in my journey as a writer, especially. I just think it's going to be so cool to be able to look back on both of these albums and just kind of have it as a little bit of a landmark. So, all in all, this album is just my landmark on the way. A recording of where I'm at in that journey and where I'm at in my art. I am always going to be connected to words, even if music doesn't end up being my full-time career. I'm going to continue writing music always. I'm going to continue releasing music, and I'm so proud of this album in the way that it showcases some amazing musicians and also in the way that it records the era of songwriting I'm in,” said Presley.

Make sure you get plugged into Presley on Facebook to keep up to date on the shows she plays and her album release information. Especially on her daily posts with detailed stories about each of the songs on this album.

It’s an American Summer for Presley Sullins Rains