Ben Rue

Country singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ben Rue was born and raised in Silverton, Oregon where he worked along with his two brothers on the family's 2,000-acre grass-seed farm. Rue's childhood interests included music (he was writing songs before he was a teen), but also baseball, and he was good enough at the game to earn a baseball scholarship to Concordia University and even played a season of independent ball before he realized the major leagues would be beyond his abilities and grasp. He turned his full attention to music and took up the guitar in his sophomore year. By the time he graduated he had put together a band and was working the local bars and clubs. He successfully auditioned for the television show The X-Factor, and although he never made it out of the 80s, the experience convinced him to move to Nashville, which he did in 2012. The move paid off two years later when he was signed to a recording deal by Sony Music. Rue's first single, "I Can’t Wait (Be My Wife)," was released in 2014.