Manny Blu doesn’t want to be defined by one genre. The rising star is readying the release of his New Ink album, which he says is a bit of all of the styles of music he likes, combined in one EP that seamlessly blurs the lines between country, rock and more.

“I would call it a country rock album,” Manny told Everything Nash. “I think there’s as much country as rock. We had a lot of fun making it, and it was exactly what I wanted to do. I’m pretty pumped about having the whole thing out and I’m happy with the responses so far.”

Manny grew up listening to all different styles of music, which is why it made sense for him to create music that fused it all together.

“I grew up loving blues music. Blues is the reason I started playing music. BB King, as soon as I heard him play, I wanted to pick up a guitar,” Manny said, adding that he was also inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Vaughan, Albert King, Gary Clark, Jr., John Mayer and more.

“There’s a lot of that, that stuff I found that was really cool and I really wanted to learn,” he said. “I was able to learn a bunch about various things, and listen to songs in various styles.  I think making the second album, I definitely wanted to bring in a little bit more rock with it, more blues too.”

Much like Manny doesn’t want to define New Ink, he also doesn’t want to define the kind of music he makes, although in his heart he admits he is more rock than anything else.

“I think I’m a rocker who sings country,” Manny said. “I think that’s what got my attention first. And then my buddies wanted me to play country songs. I definitely love having that be part of our live shows, country songs.”

Manny’s single, “Born to Ride,” was written by hit songwriters Rhett Akins, Ross Copperman, and Josh Osborne.

“We were sourcing songs for this new album, and that was one of the songs that got through,” Manny said. ‘I thought that was  a good overall theme that I wanted to have; it had a little bit of country, rock and everything in between. I thought it was a really well-balanced song, which is why we wanted to put it out for the first single … I thought it was perfect for the album.”

Manny planned on being on the road this year promoting his upcoming new project, but COVID-19 derailed those plans. Still, he is eager to perform these songs for his fans as soon as it is safe, for everyone.

“Playing shows is my favorite things to do,” Manny said. “The studio’s fun, and having new music and all that stuff is cool, but there’s nothing like playing a live show. Obviously that was taken away from us this year, unfortunately. I’ve just been taking the time to decide what we want to do moving forward. I’ve been chatting with my team in Nashville, and working on where we want to be, and where we’re headed musically.

“So it was a pretty good time to work on things,” he added. But definitely come 2021, I want to be on the road as much as we can be, playing as many shows as we can, playing new music, playing the songs live, and just have a blast.”

New Ink also includes songs by Josh Osborne, Chris DeStefano, Rhett Akins, Ross Copperman and more. The record will be released on November 13. Keep track of updates at MannyBluMusic.com.