Photo credit: Minna Ýr Jóhannsdóttir
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
I rent a tour bus so I honestly have no idea, but one winter was the coldest winter in decades and the bus engine froze over in Vermont and had to be towed away and replaced.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
I’m a person of ritual, so I eat healthy and try to find local mom and pop stores that sell more organic produce. Lots of vegetables, fruits, and of course wine (grapes) ha.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I can’t remember the last time I broke a string.
Where do you rehearse?
I don’t have one. I don’t like to rehearse.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
The first lyric I ever wrote was the first line of my first song, “Winter” – the line is “I should know who I am by now”
Describe your first gig.
It was an open mic night at a little spot in the West Village in NYC called The Baggot Inn. I played “Winter”, and two covers. Those were pretty much the only songs I knew, as I had just started playing guitar six months previously.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
I was a children’s art teacher in Chicago for inner city kids whose arts programs had been cut. And it was an incredibly rewarding job.
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 don’t like to talk about money.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I wish I hadn’t taken myself so seriously and every gig so seriously when I began. It was fear based.