Rob Baird is a thinker, a seeker, a man who surveys the scene, decides what he aims to accomplish and sets it in motion. Sure, over the past five years the Memphis-born musician, who broke out with 2012’s critically-acclaimed I Swear It’s The Truth and built a dedicated fanbase as a result, steadily earned a reputation as a no-frills, earnest singer, songwriter and performer — one able to tear through the Texas live-music circuit with ease.

But Baird envisioned for himself a fuller artistic landscape. “I love Texas but I knew there was more out there,” the 28-year-old says. It’s why he temporarily stepped off the stage, decamped to Nashville and began to assemble Wrong Side of The River, the musician’s most eclectic and elegant, crisp and stunning collection of songs yet. “It was time for me to go out there and figure it out on my own; hit the reset button,” he says.