Ben Rector works 'Magic' with new album, out June 22

Advance tracks "Old Friends" and "I Will Always Be Yours" out now

Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ben Rector conjures up 13 musical marvels on 'Magic,' his spellbinding new album, out June 22 on OK Kid Recordings via AWAL Recordings. Two tracks -- "Old Friends" and "I Will Always Be Yours" -- are available today.

Listen to "Old Friends" via Billboard.

'Magic,' whose producers include Tony Hoffer (Beck, Air, M83) and John Fields (Goo Goo Dolls, All Time Low), finds Rector simultaneously looking at the past with fondness while eagerly embracing the wondrous possibilities of a wide-open future personified by his daughter, born last July. "There's magic in reminiscing, as we probably remember everything a little better than it actually was," says the Oklahoma native and Nashville resident. "At the same time, my wife just had our first child Jane. That was literal magic."

Rector captures the miraculous feeling of that experience in the album's opening track, "Extraordinary Magic," as well as its closer, "Love Like This." "Old Friends" -- an ode to childhood pals -- and "Sometimes," co-written by Rector and Grammy-award winning songwriter Dan Wilson, which reflects on what could have been with an old love, set the tone for the album's blend of nostalgia and anticipation also heard on songs like "Kids" and"Drive." The whimsical "Duo" is filled with nods to pop-culture teams, with Rector imagining himself in the roles of sidekick and straight man. "I Will Always Be Yours" makes a stylistic nod to Huey Lewis and the News, a longtime favorite of Rector's, and features a guitar solo from Steve Stevens, known for this work with Billy Idol, Michael Jackson and the theme from the 1986 film Top Gun.

'Magic' follows Rector's breakout 2015 album 'Brand New', which debuted in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 and yielded a Top 5 radio hit in the form of the title track. "Brand New" has 41 million-plus Spotify streams and more than 40 film and TV placements, including trailers for The Edge of Seventeen and Disney's Moana, a multi-national campaign for Weight Watchers featuring Oprah, plus promos for the MLB World Series and Olympics. Each of Rector's four previous albums has charted better than the one preceding it.

Rector will tour nationally this fall and dates will be announced soon.

'Magic' Track List:

1. Extraordinary Magic

2. I Will Always Be Yours

3. Drive

4. Old Friends

5. Duo

6. Kids

7. Green

8. Sometimes

9. Wherever You Are

10. Over and Over