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If there's one message local artist Jonathan Sexton wants listeners to come away from his new album with, it's this: follow your heart.

The worries of the past, the promises of the future -- none of them, he told The Daily Times during a recent interview, are as important as living in the moment. That album -- "New Day," which will be celebrated with a CD release show Friday (Oct. 23) at The Square Room in Knoxville -- is a document of Sexton's personal journey of self-discovery.

On it he chronicles the life, love, light and hope he's found through a renewed focus on the things that are really important to him. Those are what matter, he said. Those are the spiritual foodstuffs of the soul, and they're what keep him grounded, focused and happy.

"Each of these songs is about my own way out of a certain headspace and my story of how I get through the day-to-day," Sexton said. "I realized that if it's applicable and it works for me, it could work for everybody else, too. It's a new confidence sort of thing -- about me believing in that message, and the people who like our music are people who are into what that message is.

"To me, music is a tool, and it's free to use to empower yourself or to grow or to heal, and I feel like it's completely unnecessary to water down that message. When you talk about spirituality in that context, it can get hairy. I've had people ask, 'Are you a Christian band? What are you?' And I tell them that I don't embrace any particular religion and that I embrace them all -- at the same time.

"I embrace whatever helps me to sleep at night and keeps a smile on my face, and I encourage that for everyone else," he added. "Each person's path is their own, and I tell them to just find that path and stick to it ... because it really will lead you to a new day."

Such metaphysical talk from the mouth of a guy who plays rock 'n' roll might seem trite or naive, but Sexton is no hippie. And when he talks about what he loves -- music or his son or his family, which includes his band members in The Big Love Choir -- his earnestness overcomes any skepticism you might have about his motives.

Sexton comes by his love of family and music honestly. His grandparents, the late William Benford and Mary Lee Sexton, were residents of Maryville, and his family hails from the Friendsville area, where his great-grandfather was foreman at the Friendsville rock quarry now owned by Vulcan Materials Company. The work ethic among his family members was a strong one, he said.

"I grew up watching my dad (Andrew Sexton, who's a member of The Big Love Choir) work at a job for AT&T and Bellsouth, and even though he would come home and do other stuff and play music on the weekends, he was owned by his job," Sexton said. "His father before him did the same thing, and so did his father -- my great-grandfather -- at the rock quarry."

Sexton himself -- raised in Seymour -- felt the itch to do something different as a teen, and as a musician, he found a place in a number of local bands. Groups like Oversoul, the Redhouse Project and honky-tonk band Whiskey Scars all fed his musical muse, but when the latter band broke up, Sexton found himself facing an uncertain future.

The songs he had written for so long no longer touched him, and as he looked inward, he no longer desired to write songs about other people or even fictional ones. The birth of his son (who's almost 4) and the death of his grandparents pushed him to return to college for a master's degree, to find work as a teacher and to begin writing songs that documented what he felt within.

"Those things gave me a way to shed everybody else's expectations of me and focus on what I want," Sexton said. "My son really made that a reality for me, because he's watching me, and it's what he sees that's going to make the difference and help him form his worldview and how he lives his life. I want him to see from me a dad doing what he loves and saying, 'This is what I want, and I'm going to make it work.'

"I don't want him to ever doubt himself or even second-guess himself, and to teach him to not do that, I've had to stop second-guessing myself. That's been a big chance, because at the time, I was in a spiritual and mental headspace of thinking I wasn't doing the right thing. I was letting other people's expectations dictate my decision-making until I realized that he has to bear witness to me believing in myself. As a result, I have a much stronger sense of personal empowerment."

First out of the gate was the CD "Big Love," released last year with Bryan Garvey and Dave Campbell of local outfit The Coveralls. It was an introspective record that documented a man searching within for answers and without for direction. It's the sound of a man adrift, scanning the horizon for a port in the storm.

But in the wake of its release, Sexton discovered that fans not only identified, but they were seeking their own ports as well. And somewhere along the line as The Big Love Choir coalesced into a backing band and, as their relationships grew, a partnership, he realized that it's not the seeking or searching that matters. And so began the making of "New Day," which is the sound of a man grounding his ship and planting a flag on whatever shore he reaches first. It's the jubilant celebration of reaching that shore alive and whole, of realizing that endless possibilities can arise and new dreams can awaken with just the slightest shift in attitude.

"'Big Love' was about healing and finding yourself and stripping it down to your roots and finding out who you are -- and then beginning to make life choices out of that," he said. "When I was going through a hard time, I had a friend who talked about making good decisions for yourself without instant gratification or reward. I remember I started making those decisions, and a few months later, I was feeling good and good things were happening.

"'New Day' is like when the 'Big Love' starts to manifest itself in your real life. On 'Big Love,' I stripped down to figure out what I'm all about and what's important to me, and I used that to build a foundation. 'New Day' is the house I've built on that foundation, and because it's strong, I'm living the life that I love."

And he believes -- fervently -- that if he can accomplish that, so can anyone. That's one reason there's so much warmth and buoyancy to the songs on "New Day" -- he wants to spread that message to the masses, and the best way to do that, he feels, is to showcase the celebration of life that he enjoys and inviting others to partake in it as well. Beautiful harmonies, steady rock-soul grooves and the uplifting sounds of a band that calls out for your heart, head, body and soul to move -- all of these make "New Day" not just a stellar local CD but an amazing album regardless of the level of success Sexton and his bandmates have achieved.

"I want my albums to be found in the self-help section of the CD store!" he said with a laugh. "This album, it's inseparable. My personal journey and the message from all of the other things that are happening and the big opportunities we've had -- I'm documenting what's going on in my heart and putting them into songs. And those songs are bringing more opportunities when I put them out there.

"That's what 'New Day' is about -- you get what you're giving away. To me, there's a direct connection between the amount of work you put into something and what you get in return. And with this band, we're all investing in it. It's not just me doing the work and paying them to show up; I have their support, and even if they don't believe in everything I'm singing, they believe in me enough to stand up there and sing it with me."