Jes Winter is taking the plunge.

Soon, she will be moving to songwriter heaven: Nashville, Tenn.

But not before she releases her brand new album, "Bloom," at the Waiting Room Lounge on Thursday.

It's Winter's first solo album.

"My direction was changing and I made the decision to go solo and find my style," she said, describing her new sound as more along the lines of Colbie Callait and Regina Spektor.

Recorded with Scott Gaeta here in Omaha, Winter's music caught the ears of A&R; reps in Nashville and she's been working with them and others.

Now, she's moving there.

"It was the extra push that I needed to move," said Winter, 23. "I think I'm ready."

She'll also be playing some shows in China with the help of her boyfriend, who just moved there, and is working on booking shows in Paris as well.

Eventually she wants to focus on being a songwriter.

"I want to license and publish my music and minimize the performing," she said. ". . . I want to write. That's my passion."

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It began earlier in the week, but the Nebraska Pop Festival continues through Sunday.

Catch band performances starting at 7 p.m. at the Barley Street Tavern on Thursday, Friday and Saturday before the festival moves to the Side Door Lounge for a 2 p.m. start on Sunday.

Local bands including Thunder Power, Rock Paper Dynamite, All young Girls Are Machine Guns and The Big Deep will perform as well as bands from as far away as Sweden, Ireland and California.

An inexpensive $7 cover will get you in the door. The best part? All proceeds go directly to Arts For All, a non-profit group that provides affordable arts education.

I salute organizer and founder Christopher Beiermann for putting on the festival once again, which is surely difficult to organize.

Check out a free Nebraska Pop Festival mixtape at nepopfest2011.blogspot.com.