About Me

How’d We Get Here

When I was 20, I started playing guitar. I did it because I really wanted someone to look at me the way I saw a girl looking at my friend while he played guitar.

 When I was 21, I learned to sing my first song. That was to impress a different girl. 

When I was 22, I wrote my first song.  I was jealous that other people had original music to play at open mic, and wanted to do that myself.

I’m not one of those people for which music is my singular purpose in life.  I must have missed that strike of something nearly supernatural at the perfect age to start letting the pursuit of a musical instrument consume me and play a fundamental part of my development as a human. That is not my story. But as much as my reasons for pursuing music feel silly now that I’ve come to love every aspect of the creative process, I think they’re a version of why we all create and perform. We want to be seen and we want to be heard.  Sometimes we take a little longer to get where we’re going. Sometimes we still get there.

Live Performances

I was a quiet kid. I didn’t go to parties. I didn’t do well in large social situations, and I probably still don’t. I love being an entertainer because, on a good night, I get to feel like a room full of people are having more fun because I’m there. I get to create a space where everyone belongs.

Just like every crowd and every individual in the crowd has different energy, feelings, and preferences, every live performance I do is a unique experience.  I like to keep my covers list diverse and ever-expanding, and incorporate my original music among requests and covers from a wide range of artists. I’ve learned some of my favorite songs because someone who booked me for a party had a special request for me to learn ahead of time. 

Original Music

One of my favorite little quips about art is that “The muse likes to find you working.”, so I try to always keep attempting to write with my guitar even when it feels like a frustrating process. The happiest and most purposeful I feel in life is when I create a new song.  In 2014, I had the good fortune to be able to record an album of original music, and I continue to add new originals to my live performances regularly.

Writing music gives me a chance to observe things better than I can any other way. When it turns out other people feel something from my songs too, it’s better than any “look” I could have hoped to earn when I first picked up a guitar at age 20.