Downbeat, due out Dec. 13, is Ben Chapman at his most confident in his musical style — “this southern-funk jam-band country thing,” as he describes it. Although he came to Nashville to write songs — he has a publishing deal with Hillary Lindsey’s Hang Your Hat Music, and artists including  Flatland Cavalry, Shelby Lynne, Muscadine Bloodline, and the Steel Woods have cut his compositions — Chapman is now intently focused on himself as an artist. While creating  Downbeat, he dove deep into the Band’s catalog and found himself inspired by the storytelling.  

“They’re so rootsy and so real, and you believe every word they’re singing, and I wanted to make something like that,” Chapman says. “The Band reminded me that I have a voice, so I better use it  and say what I want to.”