James Dunn was not quite at a crossroads in his life, but he was feeling an inner tug about where he was headed, trying to make sense of how he ticked.

The former Cary native and Apex High tennis standout was a sales rep living in Bowling Green, Ky., at the time, and the influence of nearby Nashville and a 30-pound, four-string steel guitar given to him by his grandfather were weighing on him.

“There’s a philosophy that a man can stand on a street corner with something to say and no one will listen to him,” Dunn said, “but put what he has to say to music and people will want to hear what he has to say.”

Dunn, 31 and single, has plenty to say. While he remains a sales rep for General Electric Company’s healthcare division selling diagnostic imaging equipment, he is passionately pursuing a music career as a singer-songwriter.

His debut EP, “Lonely American Dream,” is a collection of eight songs, a diverse assortment of rock, blues and folk tunes — or Americana as Dunn categorizes the sound.

“I think for my first album, it does a good job of displaying my potential as both a songwriter and a singer,” said Dunn, who spent about two years on the project and finally pulled it together at Crew Cuts studios in Raleigh.

Ever since the CD’s release June 15, Dunn has been in promotional mode. In July, he performed two songs on WRAL 101.5 FM’s Homegrown Mix program that highlights regional artists. Over the weekend he performed on Alltel Pavilion’s Acoustic Stage before and during breaks in Kenny Chesney’s two shows. He has a Web site and his CD can be bought at the iTunes Music Store.

“It’s all about how to get it out to the masses,” he said of the promotional side of the business.

Dunn admits his background in business and sales has been an asset, but ultimately it’s the authenticity of his lyrics and music that must draw people to listen.

“I like to believe I can connect with folks through lyrics,” he said.

His seventh track, “When the Eagles Cry,” for example, addresses a father sending his son off to war. The song was inspired by a picture of a man in his Army greens that Dunn saw at a neighbor’s house, as a little boy growing up in New Jersey. At the time, Dunn knew nothing of Vietnam, nothing of what war did to families.

But more recently he saw a newspaper photo of a man holding his wife, their son having been killed in Iraq.

“And the grief on the father’s face just spurred me to write that song,” Dunn said. “It struck such a deep chord in me. I felt like I had something to say, so at that point I just had to get it out and be heard.

“Since then I’ve had notes from families saying the lyrics express how they feel. So it’s been worth it to me.”

Growing up in Cary, Dunn was an accomplished athlete, pictures of him splattered on the pages of The Cary News throughout the years, first as an accomplished youth baseball and basketball player and later as a tennis player at Apex High.

“My dad was a very good athlete and he always wanted me to play sports,” Dunn says. “I always enjoyed sports — still do — and played for as long as I could until I realized it wasn’t going to take me any further.”

Dunn attended N.C. State and then headed off to the corporate world. At 25, Dunn’s grandfather, Henry J. Dunn, gave him a guitar that he had strummed while playing with big bands at venues around the Pocono Mountains in the 1930s and ’40s.

While living in Kentucky post-college, Dunn came to the realization that life was moving quickly and he wanted to express himself. Nashville, on a southern route 65 miles away, gave him plenty of inspiration and the guitar gave him an outlet.

“I don’t want my life to be mediocre,” said Dunn, who moved back to Raleigh in 2000. “I don’t want to coast in life. I have found music pushes me. It touches my soul and moves me. And if I can do something with it that fulfills me and people happen to like it, then I want to share it.”

No longer is Dunn near a crossroads. Instead, it appears, he has chosen his path.