From left, Ben Rector and Cody Fry
With more than one billion streams, indie superstar Ben Rector released his highly anticipated album, The Joy of Music, in March of 2022. The album features several notable collaborations, including award-winning rapper Snoop Dogg, Grammy winner and legendary musician Dave Koz, iconic jazz musician Kenny G., Taylor Goldsmith from the folk-rock band Dawes, as well as the YouTube sensation One Voice Children’s Choir.
Fifteen years into a career that began humbly, writing songs in college and touring the southeast in his Honda Accord, Rector found himself in a place where may artists did at the start of a global pandemic: reassessing his reasoning for a career in music in the first place. The internal prodding organically led to a seat back at the piano in his home studio, where Rector processed his findings with the ornate-but-relatable lyricism fans have come to know and love. Over the course of 12 tracks, the Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter reaffirms his penchant for evocative, piano-pop anthems that touch on family, fame and friendship. Musically, it’s also full of collaborative surprises, showcasing a breathtaking evolution in sound and spirit—leading to what Rector considers his best work to date.
The Joy of Music is “a good microcosm of what the last couple of years of my life have been, which is trying to find joy and peace where I’m at, and finding it,” Rector says. “I’m in a deep place of gratitude for where I’m at.”
Alongside the album release, Rector premiered a breathtaking short film (featuring seven songs brought to life with stunning cinematography), inviting listeners and viewers to visit a dream world that communicates Rector’s creative process and his reckoning with his job as an artist. He is led through the film’s chapters by his new friend Joy, a Muppet monster he created with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. In this fantastic and dream-like landscape, we see and hear Rector overcome a deep-seated fear of failure, dancing and singing his way through the journey of rediscovering the joy of music.
His career has taken him from the challenging beginnings of every up-and-comer, to one of the most successful independent artists to-date—a gatekeeper, of sorts, and the creator of a highly effective career blueprint that continually leads to win after win. He’s never signed to a major label or publisher, yet he has played live on a number of national television shows, including Jimmy Kimmel, Conan, The Today Show, Good Morning America and more; had his music featured in over a hundred TV shows, ads and films, including Pretty Little Liars and Castle (his single “Brand New” is one of the most licensed songs for television and film in the last five years); hit the number one spot on Billboard’s U.S. Folk chart and the number nine spot on their top 200; and was an all-star mentor on the ABC hit show American Idol alongside Ryan Tedder, Jewel, Jason Aldean, Jimmie Allen and Joss Stone (among others). Rector also recently sold out the majority of amphitheaters nationwide on this most recent headlining tour, The Joy of Music – A Live Music Event at Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville.
After the life-changing viral TikTok success of his song “I Hear a Symphony,” Cody Fry has embarked on a new creative journey with Symphony Sessions, a sweeping orchestral collection of new songs, new arrangements of old songs, and live videos featuring his signature widescreen approach to pop music. His bombastic cover of “Eleanor Rigby” was recently nominated for a Grammy in the category of “Best Arrangement, Instruments & Vocals.”
A list of Fry’s career accomplishments might, at first, seem strange and wide-ranging. The Nashville-based singer/songwriter/composer/producer has written music for everything from national ad campaigns to video games, apps, fashion events and Vimeo-Staff-Picked short films to scoring works for A-list corporate brands like Netflix and Google, and even a Super Bowl commercial for McDonald’s.
So, when Cody Fry sits down to write music for himself, it’s the sum of those experiences that make him an artist like no other you’ll come across.
Growing up in a musical household, Fry was steeped in the world of music from a young age. His father, Gary Fry, is an orchestral composer who writes for symphonic organizations all over the world. Like father like son, Fry’s love of orchestration permeates much of his work and lends his sound a unique and truly cinematic quality.
His genre-bending discography and musicianship give him the opportunity to perform in a huge range of artistic contexts. Fry has performed all over the globe, including with the world-famous Metropole Orkest, and even had a rave-reviewed stint on American Idol. He once was asked to perform for Oprah on a Mediterranean cruise ship. She was super nice.
You can keep up with Cody Fry on Instagram via @codyfry, TikTok via @codyfrymusic or on his website, codyfry.com.