“J4 is one of the most talented young artists I have ever known. His vocal, songwriting and production skills are stellar.”

-Jan Buckingham, Grammy Nominated Hit Songwriter, Duck House Publishing

 

Buffalo, born, Nashville based recording artist, songwriter, and producer Joseph Henry Wandass, IV (better known as J4™) has been an inspirational and powerful force in the Nashville music scene for well over 10 years.

 

The young artist has already built quite the musical resume in his young career. Growing up as a prolific musical talent, J4 performed his first concert at 10 years old with his father Joseph Wandass, III at the Boston Town Fire Company. From there, he discovered his love of music while singing in church, studying piano, and performing leads in local musicals. J4 began performing professionally in Nashville, TN in 2012, and he debuted in the back room of Tootsie’s World Famous Orchid Lounge. In 2014, J4 moved to Nashville to follow his musical passions. In between classes, at only age 15, J4 performed country music weekly at Tootsie’s World Famous Orchid Lounge, Rippy's Bar and Grille, and Honkey Tonk Central. 

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“Music has always been a way in which I can express myself,” J4 explains. “I love telling stories we can all relate to so, for just a moment, we can all feel more connected and experience those stories together.”

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In 2015, J4 opened for headlining artist Josh Turner (with Gordon Mote and Lee Greenwood) at the Franklin Theatre in Nashville, TN. The same year, J4 sang background vocals and played guitar for Christian star and worship leader Michael W. Smith at New River Fellowship of Franklin, TN. Working with these artists, who were alumni of Belmont University, lead J4 to attend Belmont to study Commercial Music with an emphasis in Vocal Performance in 2016. In May of 2017, J4 sang background vocals for the alternative pop band Cage the Elephant at the Ryman Auditorium. In 2018, J4 made his debut radio performance in 2018 at WSM Radio at the legendary Midnight Jamboree hosted by Zach Janson. 

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During his time at Belmont, J4 had many opportunities to expand his production and songwriting capabilities. In 2017, J4 worked under internationally renowned vocal coach Brett Manning (Haley Williams, Carrie Underwood, Luke Combs) as an intern. J4 also secured an internship in 2019 at Nashville Cool Music Publishing where he worked as a track writer and producer writer under publisher Nancy Deckant.  

 

In 2019, J4 released his first three singles, "Two Front Seats," "Thinking Bout You," and "Changes (Acoustic)," which were all met with great critical reception. This same year J4 participated as a member of both Southbound (Belmont University's flagship Country music ensemble) and Chorale (Belmont's world-class classical choral ensemble).

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In 2020, J4 graduated from Belmont University with a Bachelors of Music in Commercial Music. After graduating, J4 released his inspirational song "Bigger," which details his struggles with overcoming cyber-bullying. That summer J4 had the opportunity to make his tour debut with The Extreme Tour, a Christian music outreach tour, performing as a multi-instrumentalist and background vocalist but quickly was elevated to being an artist on the tour, closing out many of the shows with his own performances. However, that Fall, due to the loss of performance opportunities due to the COVID pandemic, J4 decided to take a break from performing to go back to Belmont University for his graduate degree in music. 

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In 2021, J4 switched his focus back to music production full time, producing for various clients and publishing companies in the Nashville area. The same year, J4 produced the talent portion for the 2021 Miss Tennessee, Tally Bevis, who utilized J4's stellar productions to advance to the national Miss America Pageant, in which J4's production was performed. After this accomplishment, J4 was awarded the opportunity to be a judge for the 2022 Miss Nashville Pageant.

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Also in 2022, J4 completed a campaign called "365 songs in 365 days," a TikTok series in which J4 wrote one song a day every day for the year 2022. Almost 1 million streams and over 20 other independent writers joined in the cause, helping J4 reach the goal. The series is currently available on Tiktok, Instagram, and Youtube.

 

During this time, J4 released a duet with highly acclaimed music therapist and fellow musical artist Elena Gentleman in July of 2022 entitled "Stay with Me." This was met with great critical reception across various media outlets.

 

On September 9th, in honor of those killed in his hometown due to the Buffalo mass shooting, J4 released a sentimental ballad entitled "Buffalo," premiering the song as the opening act for Darryl Worley at the Backlot Entertainment Complex in Buffalo, NY.  Additionally, that year, he received his first major label song cut on pop artist Kechi Okwuchi's (from America’s Got Talent) debut album, which was released by Cashcow records distributed by Sony Orchard in 2022.

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In December 2022, J4 graduated from Belmont University with a Masters in Music in Commercial Music after studying as a graduate student, working as a graduate assistant, and teaching vocal lessons as an adjunct teacher's assistant. His thesis entitled "Co-Writing Nashville Style" was published to the Belmont University Lila D Bunch Library in January of 2023. 

 

Though 2023 was a year of personal turmoil and turbulence for the young artist, J4 ended the year having released five studio singles including “Heartbroken,” “Vapor,” “All-American,” “Lonely,” and “Yuletidin’ with You.” J4’s single “All-American” remains his most streamed song to date, while his single “Yuletidin’ with You” was featured in the opening scene of Nicely Entertainment’s movie Christmas at the Amish Bakery. Also that December 2023, J4 made his debut at both the Listening Room at Pigeon Forge and the Bluebird Café as a featured musical artist.

 

In 2024, J4 has so far released six singles, “Icarus (feat. Anna Eyink),” “Kids Again,” “Nothing Hurts Like Love,” “Raining Ashes (feat. Aelle, Anna Eyink),” “Mom I Made It (To Music Row),” and “10 Year Town.” In addition, J4’s Christmas single “Yuletidin’ with You” won Record of the Year at the Tennessee Songwriter’s Association International Awards in April of 2024 and was nominated for Holiday song of the Year at the Josie Music Awards at the Grand Ole Opry in October of 2024. J4 has also received five more movie placements that are currently in post-production, and was elevated to a voting member of the board at the Tennessee Songwriter’s Association International.

Today, as an independent songwriter, J4 has written a catalogue of over 1000 songs and works as a full-time recording artist and songwriter for many emerging Nashville artists. J4 also works as a track writer, producer and songwriter for multiple labels and publishing companies in Nashville, including Heart Songs Music Group, Get Buzzed Publishing, Nashville Cool Music Publishing, Discover Sooner, Molly Girl Music, Peacock Publishing, and many others.