Songs I’ve Played and More That I Haven’t - Music I Hope you’ll Love
I love music. Writing it, playing it, dancing to it. But, despite having a house full of musical instruments and years of vocal training, my favorite way to interact with music is still as a listener. It was a childhood spent singing along to Chieftains cassettes and choreographing dances to the newest *Nsync CD that sparked my passion for music, and, even as an adult, the first remedy I reach for when I’m suffering from some emotional ill is a pair of headphones and a long walk.
Below, I’ve listed some of my favorite albums I’ve discovered over the last couple of years, curated with the audience at Fertile Ground Gathering in mind. I’ve also included links to the other artists who performed in 2023 and 2024 so that you, whoever you are who is hopefully reading this, can support them as well. These songs have all touched me in some way, some more intensely than others but all in the way I needed them to. I hope you find a few new songs to add to your favorite playlist or the next album you plan to buy.
Read More
I'm Not Dead Yet
Hello! I’m back from the grave to once again kill the mood (one of my favorite party tricks). So where have I been? What am I bitching into the void about today? You’re going to have to click the link to find out.
Read More
The Commandment: Love Me As I Am
We’re likely all familiar with the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. They don’t always happen in that order or so neatly delineated, and we don’t just experience them after a death. The end of a relationship can trigger them as well - and this EP that I’ve been dripping out one song at a time touches on many of those experiences; “Don’t Wanna Feel” is about denial and depression (and includes a little bargaining), “Muscle Memory” touches on acceptance, and “Moth Wings” dips its toes into depression… “The Commandment” speaks to anger and acceptance which combine to become righteous rage.
Read More
Muscle Memory: Channeling the Inner High Priestess
If you’ve been following along with all my single releases and accompanying essays over the last several months, first let me thank you for taking this journey with me and for taking the time listen and read. Secondly, you may have noticed the threads I’m trying to weave together with the songs and artwork. With the upcoming release of Muscle Memory, it finally feels like enough of the pieces are fitting together that you can get a sense of the whole picture.
Read More
Moth Wings: Time + Distance = Nostalgia
Performing as a singer-songwriter often means I share my most personal moments with a crowd of strangers, whether that’s through a song or stage banter. Don’t get me wrong, I fictionalize plenty (never let the truth get in the way of a good story, as they say in the writer’s rooms of Nashville), but there’s a thread of truth in every lyric. Over the years, I’ve found the songs that feel the most personal, the most like I’ve poured my soul directly onto the page, tend to be the ones that go over like a lead balloon on stage. Moth Wings is the exception that proves the rule.
Read More
"Don't Wanna Feel" Premiere by Underground Music Collective
Don’t Wanna Feel is out in the world and I was lucky enough to have it premiered by the Universal Music Collective! Read the full premiere at the link below and explore the rest of UMC while you’re there. They do an amazing job discovering, sharing, and supporting independent music.
Read More
Don't Wanna Feel - The Story of an Accidentally Sad Song
With my new single Don’t Wanna Feel coming out July 31st (although it’s available RIGHT NOW on Patreon), I thought I might share a little of the story behind the song. It’s one of my favorite compositions on the EP, both because of how much more harmonically complicated it is than a lot of what I write and how fun it’s been to perform live.
Read More
Busy - Trying to Find a New Normal
It’s finally time to release the first single off my upcoming EP, Force of Nature, and let’s just say it’s been an interesting process. But that’s alright. I want to make the biggest impact I can with my music, but I’m really in it for the art and this is some of the best art I’ve ever made.
Read More
Creativity In Lockdown
I often feel like for my creativity to mean something, it has to be channeled the “right” way. It must be directed into songwriting or album art or a merch print. But it doesn’t. It brings me as much joy at the moment to experiment with a new recipe as it does to work on album art, and I’m down for anything that can bring joy into my life right now. Creativity is everywhere and the energy that drives it isn’t always going to be a song or a perfect painting. Sometimes the simpler, more practical applications of creativity are what you need.
Read More
The Art of Time Wasting
To describe the current state of things as “high weird” would be both an understatement and too flippant, but I don’t really know how else to explain it. I don’t want to be dire, but from what medical professionals and public health experts are saying, it’s most likely going to get worse before it gets better. The best thing most of us can do is try to stay home as much as possible. Many of us suddenly have way more free time on our hands and I can tell you how easy it is to fill that time with worry and speculation. But, seeing as I wound up living the quarantine life a bit earlier than much of America, I can share with you how I've filled/am filling my time and hopefully give you some inspiration for what to do with the lonely hours.
Read More
Creation Myths
Every religion has a creation myth. Narrative is part of the human communication starter pack; it’s as essential to how we understand each other and the world as language and as universal as music and art. Why am I waxing poetic about story? Because I’m trying to write one that bridges the gap between different kind of media, platforms, and people. An album release is nothing if not a creation myth.
Read More
Taking The Long View
As arbitrary a date as January 1st is, it’s hard not to feel the significance of a new year. While I don’t have as specific plans or resolutions as I did last year (and those lasted for like 2.5 months so it might be for the best), I do have a few big goals and events coming up. Hopefully, sharing them with you will help keep me accountable to them - feel free to share yours in return if you need an internet accountability buddy!
Read More
Print It!
The word “print” has been on my mind lately. To print means to make an impression. I’ve been exploring printing these last two months through screen printing and digital recording and, man, does it shine a harsh light on my indecisiveness.
Read More
Building a Mystery - I Mean - Repertoire
Who doesn’t love a good cover song? Those tried-and-true, well-known pop tunes have the magical ability to transform a room full of strangers into a choir or a dance troop. Over the last few months, I’ve been lucky to get to play my own music almost exclusively. It’s fun, but it doesn’t give me much of an opportunity to create that magical experience. So I’m building a repertoire and I’m asking for your help doing it!
Read More
The Best Grilled Cheese I Ever Made
Listen, September has been a slow month for me. It’s been a lot of figuring out where my life is going, what I need more or less of, and just being very tired a lot of the time. At points my anxiety and frustration have peaked, and I’ve had this overwhelming creative energy with no clue how to direct it. So I’ve looked for small moments of joy to hold me together this month. This sandwich is one of them.
Read More
Write What You Know
Half a decade ago, I wrote a blog post about the Uncanny Valley of songwriting that triggered a special kind of rage which compelled me to write several thousand words. Recently, the same spidey-sense that inspired that essay was triggered again, but now I’m older and wiser and our culture has better language to explain why it bothers me so much.
Read More
Studio Magic: Ritual in the Temple of Music
Making music can feel like a sacred act. Whether Pagan, Christian, or atheist, many of us feel a deep, spiritual catharsis when creating music. Even writers who don’t ascribe to any particular faith have expressed a sense that they are channeling the songs they write from something outside themselves rather than creating them independently.
Writing is low magic: it’s instinctual and earthy and raw; the spell is improvisatory and unpretentious. Recording is high magic: there is ritual and formality; the wiring and carefully labeled inputs are a magical array charging the space; the intention is firmly set and - although there is lots of room for adaptation - there is prewritten script that must be breathed to life.
Read More
Change is good.
Well, sometimes change is hard. And not all change is good (climate change, changes to laws to prevent people with female bodies from receiving healthcare, most of the changes that Tennessee is making to it’s laws at the moment, etc.) but - on a personal level - change has been good for me this month.
Two big things that are happening/have happened in June: I’m moving to a house as opposed to the lovely but little condo I live in now and I had my first round of recording for a new project that will release early next year.
Read More
On the Road: Blurring Work and Pleasure
I drove approximately 3,200 miles in a week and a half and I loved it. In two separate trips, I drove to New Brunswick, NJ and back and then to Triangle, VA and back. Both shows were incredible, but the drive to New Jersey was particularly special.
Read More
Like That - Choreographing a watercolor
A painting is usually a single moment in time, the image that glows behind your eyelids mid blink. So how do you combine a static painting with the very much time-based medium of music?
Read More
