Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdowns?
Ford F150, 50k miles, no breakdowns.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
I don’t tour enough to justify eating cheap/healthy. I usually treat it as a vacation and pig out.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I have never broken a fiddle string during a show luckily.
Where do you rehearse?
I rehearse in my home office. I work remotely for a medical job at Mayo Clinic. My job as a Medical Dosimetrist has major swings in workload. Sometimes I have the flexibility to practice during the workday while on break.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
The first song I wrote (probably the 30th song I ever wrote, but first one I still remember and still like) is called “Heart vs Mind”. I wrote it in 2016 while attending Radiation Therapy school. A sample lyric is “I just wanna go to sleep, this tug of war takes its toll on me, the heart’s the mind’s worst enemy, they’ll battle ‘til the final beat. The heart knows what it wants, but the mind knows what it needs.”
Describe your first gig.
My first gig was a house show in May 2023 in Jacksonville, FL at The Connex. My friend Rambler Kane helped me book it after he heard me play 2 songs at an open mic. The day of the show I felt sick all day. I even tried to get out of it, but luckily my wife told me to stop being a baby and I made it to the show. There were probably 20 people and it was a high I had never experienced. I instantly became addicted.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
My last, current and favorite day job is my Mayo Clinic Dosimetry job. I get to create treatment plans for cancer patients using a few software programs. It is engaging, rewarding and pretty fun. After the patient has been diagnosed, our department acquires a CT scan on a specialized scanner. The Physician will identify the tumor/target, and I will draw all of the nearby organs at risk. I use a few programs to find the most ideal pathway for radiation, or beam geometry, to maximize dose to the target while minimizing dose to nearby organs at risk.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
I went from nothing to making almost much as I do at Mayo Clinic in 3 years. It has completely changed our lives because we no longer stress about paying our bills.
My main financial goal is to retire my wife early. If I can do that and go part time myself, I think we will have it made.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
You have to learn how to tune and talk at the same time. Nobody tells you how hard that is!