As the release of his debut album approaches, the Illinois born, Nashville based artist shares a track about attraction & what can come from it
Photo Credit: Elijah Settles
– Out Now | Impact Date: 1st Aug –
FFO: YUNGBLUD, Lenny Kravitz, Palaye Royale
Label / Imprint: Maroon Records
Format: Digital single
“Audibly inspired by rock’n’roll’s classics, but making them his own… he’s one to watch” Classic Rock
“A 21st Century rock star in the making…” Kerrang!
“Whiff of future rockstar in the air” – Rock Fiend
“James Bruner isn’t just arriving—he’s absolutely ready to take over” – Rock Today
Fresh from a tour of the States as special guest for The Unlikely Candidates, Illinois born, Nashville based alt rock artist James Bruner continues the build up towards his debut album with the release of OMG – a track about fleeting moments of attraction that lead on to bigger things & the unpredictability of it all.
The track’s produced by Nashville’s Shane Weisman & is the first song James & the producer wrote together back in 2024. That initial collaboration spawned a creative relationship which lead on to the writing & recording of James’s debut album Can’t Keep Wanting You, due out 4th September on vinyl & digital formats.
Picking up on the then nascent creative spark, James describes the initial process saying “we met in the middle & steamed straight ahead with writing ourselves a song in the pop-rock realm about a guy infatuated with a girl that he saw at a cross walk… & the rest is history. Listening back to it now, I still get that giddy feeling that I had the day we laid down the ‘la la la la’ before the final chorus”.
Alongside previous singles from the album Can’t Keep Wanting You & Wish I Could Stay, OMG continues the theme of love being a catalyst that fuels everything in life from desire to empowerment & even defiance.
Having enjoyed playlisting on Planet Rock Radio for his singles Switchblade and Big Shot, plus Hot List & The Dirt / High Hopes features in Classic Rock mag, 2026 is turning out to be a breakthrough year for this most commanding of artists with regards to both his recorded & live work.
About James Bruner:
Having come of age amidst skateboard culture in Springfield, Illinois, James was drawn towards artists like Roxy Music, David Bowie & Iggy Pop as opposed to what his friends were listening to at the time. Watching how skaters executed their craft on videos featuring Iggy Pop’s Lust For Life, Rod Stewart’s Every Picture Tells A Story & Black Sabbath’s Paranoid, inspired him to get a guitar at the age of 15. He was soon to join local band Unchained as lead vocalist & rhythm guitar – but it was when he moved to Nashville that his focus on songwriting & working with top-flight musicians began to bear fruit.
Full band shows as a solo artist began in 2023 & since then James has honed his craft as a live performer playing hundreds of shows across the USA, Europe & the UK with the likes of Those Damn Crows, Orianthi, Barns Courtney, The Romana Flowers & Yonaka as well as full European tours with Nashville singer-songwriter William Fitzsimmons & The Struts. James has graced the stages of legendary venues such as The Bataclan (Paris), Barrowlands (Glasgow), The Roundhouse (London), Irving Plaza (New York) & Fabrique (Milan).
Highlights:
- PLANET ROCK RADIO: 8 weeks on B-List & Evening List for singles SwitchBlade & Big Shot
- CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE: ‘Hot List‘ & ‘The Dirt / High Hopes‘ features in Jan & Feb 2026 issues
- 200k+ MONTHLY LISTENERS during The Otherside EP campaign
- 500k+ STREAMS on single Big Shot
- GLOBAL TOURS WITH: The Struts, Barns Courtney, Yonaka, Those Damn Crows, Orianthi
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Photo Credit: Elijah Settles
Photo Credit: Sierra Sevier
Photo Credit: Sierra Sevier