Photo credit: Chase Denton
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
Well there have been different modes of transport for different tours but my most recent strings of dates were facilitated by a trusty Kia Soul that came into my life about a decade ago. It had about 80-100K miles on it when I was touring the last couple years. It’s a small model SUV but has a huge trunk, which was so so helpful for hiding and storing instruments and merch. I made all kinds of repairs through the years, and had to stop a lot to top the oil off because it would burn off quick. Great car though and it got me to a lot of places!! When I was driving from NY to Nashville and essentially moving my entire life back to Nashville, the catalytic converter decided to take the ultimate nap and I drove about 200 miles on the freeway at 45mph. But I made it to Nashville and the rest is history!
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
This is a good one, I love to hit the grocery store on tour, I get a kick out of being resourceful with this part. I always try to make sure I have plenty of healthy snacks and some groceries to put some good daytime meals together. It really helps with physical energy and saving money!
Do you prefer to use your own mic while performing or do you rely on venue/studio mics?
For demos and various things, I’ll use my Rode K2 microphone at home. I usually bring my own SM58 on tour, its trusty and can take a beating on the road – always sounds great. For Sunset Drive, I got to use a vocal mic that my producer, Brad Allen Williams, actually made himself. It sounds incredible. Grateful for that.
Where do you rehearse?
I do my solo rehearsing in my home studio, I have a simple small PA that I use. Since moving back to Nashville a year and some change ago, I’ve been using a couple different rental studios for band rehearsals. A couple of months ago, a guy who I believe was renting another studio in the facility kept coming in to our rehearsal mid-song, just fervently searching for something I guess he lost. It was actually quite funny, it was like we were in parallel universes.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
One of the first songs that I wrote as a teenager was called ‘Cupid.’ I don’t know how I would ever remember or find the whole thing but I remember one lyric was ‘Cupid, draw your arrows elsewhere.’ Pretty emo but at the same time, pretty imaginative, I’m proud of young me for giving it a shot, hahaha.
Describe your first gig.
One might say my first gigs were walking down the hall to other side of our double wide to show my mom that I had learned Oasis ‘Champagne Supernova’ or Fuel ‘Shimmer.’ Or the times I would kick down a Jars of Clay cover at church. But the first ‘real gig’ was at a coffee shop in Houston, the summer after I graduated high school. My friend Kelly and I put together this set of covers – Sarah McLachlan, Lisa Loeb, etc. We solicited this little gig ourselves and went down there with our printed charts and music stand and played for tips.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
I’ve worked in a healthy number of coffee shops. My last day gig was at a coffee shop in Brooklyn. I like to think I was a solid barista, I had fun with that.
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?
Things change from season to season depending on how much touring I’m doing. In 5-10 years, I am aiming for my income to remain diverse and for the business side to grow and scale as it has been.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
The most resounding concept is really to follow my intuition and do everything in my power to strengthen my relationship to it. All of the art and everything about the way you move through the world comes from that place.