About
I spent years trying to fit in.
The strange part is, I did.
The better I became at being understood, the less I recognized myself.
The Beginning
I always saw things a little differently
When I was young, I had a way of looking at the world that didn't always make sense to the people around me. Adults called me wise. Kids my age didn't always know what to make of me.
Eventually, I learned how to fit in.
And I got pretty good at it.
But the better I became at being the version of myself other people understood, the further I seemed to get from the person I actually was.
So I found somewhere else to put all of it.
Music.
Belonging
Being lonely doesn't mean you're alone
I've felt lonely for most of my life.
Not necessarily because there weren't people around me. Sometimes you can love people deeply, laugh until your stomach hurts, have incredible friends and still feel like some part of you isn't completely understood.
I used to think that was something I needed to solve. I don't anymore.
You can be different and still belong. You can be lonely and still laugh. You can feel misunderstood and still connect.
Maybe that's one of the reasons we need music in the first place.
Pay Attention
Don't miss the good old days while you're living them.
The older I get, the more I realize that almost everything I value has something in common:
I can't keep it.
A sunset disappears. A road trip ends. Your parents get older. Your children become different people right in front of you. Friends move. Places change. Even the person you are today eventually becomes someone you used to be.
I don't think that makes life tragic.
I think it makes right now incredibly valuable.
That's become one of the ideas underneath my music: pay attention while it's happening.
Because one day, an ordinary Tuesday can become a day you'd give anything to experience again.
The Music
The recording isn't the finish line
I don't believe recording a song means I'm finished with it.
A recording is one version of a piece of art. It's a moment captured permanently. Live music is different.
A song can stretch. A lyric can land differently. An arrangement can change because of the room, the band, the audience, or simply because that's what feels right that night.
I don't want to spend the rest of my life recreating a recording.
I want the songs to keep living.
Why
I want the big stages. Just not at the expense of the small moments.
I'm ambitious.
I want these songs to reach as many people as they can. I want bigger rooms, bigger opportunities, and everything that comes with building a life in music.
But I've also learned how easy it is to spend your life chasing the next achievement and miss the life you're supposedly building it for.
That's the tension behind a lot of what I write.
Success matters to me.
It just isn't what makes everything else matter.
If the songs work, they eventually stop being about me.
Maybe you call your dad.
Maybe you hold your kid a little longer.
Maybe you look over at the person sitting beside you on the drive home and remember how lucky you are that they're there.
Maybe tomorrow you notice something you normally would have walked past.
That's what I hope happens.
And if somewhere along the way you remember the guy who wrote the songs too...
I'll happily take that.
Start with a song.
The rest of the story is in the music.