Photo credit: Pang Tubhirin
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
I drive a 2010 navy blue Toyota Sienna. Her name is Joan (short for Joni Mitchell’s Blue…van). I found a front facing license plate with a unicorn jumping over a rainbow and the name JOAN airbrushed on it at a gas station and knew it was meant for my rig. I bought it from a really shady used car lot in Bensonhurst, and the transmission almost immediately gave in, stranding me in West Virginia for almost a month while we waited on the parts/repairs. My mom split the cost with me, which was so kind and sorry Mom I said I would pay you back and I have not yet done that.
I am loath to say that “otherwise we’re good” but it’s true. Toyotas are incredible vehicles and Joan has 213K miles on her and drives really well. I drove her from New York to Texas and back this year, and I have at times lived in my van. I love this car so much – it is only the second vehicle I have ever owned in my life (the first was a 1999 Nissan Sentra which I also loved and ran into the ground).
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
I struggle with both because I love food, I love everybody’s favorite greasy spoon but I also love expensive crap like oysters. My favorite meal used to be a cheeseburger with a glass of natty white wine (I recently more or less gave up drinking). But I do carry a bag of apples with me on tour and when I get snackish while driving I’ll chomp on one of those instead of taquitos or whatever. But eventually the taquitos call and I can’t say no.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I play a 1968 Gibson Blue Ridge and I use Martin Monel strings. Monels are allegedly less prone to breaking but I mostly like them for the warm vintage-y tone. Also I told a cute guy I liked to use Monels once and he looked really impressed and I don’t often get to out guitar-guy the guitar guys. I don’t break strings often because I am obsessive about how I put them on and annoying about changing them when the tone starts to sound flat.
Where do you rehearse?
I live in a studio apartment so my rehearsal space is my bedroom is my office is my kitchen. It looks not unlike a Swedish prison which is to say it’s nice and gets good light but is pretty basic. I recently got rid of my TV so I’m more likely to eat my vegetables (practice the guitar) in my free time (in theory).
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
I probably wrote something before this but the first one I really remember was a song called “The Tree Climber’s Song.” I’d have been thirteen and my older sister was pregnant. I was worried and excited and curious about what kind of person my niece would be. The one line I remember is “Will you Climb a tree barefoot at night? Fulfilling all your wildest dreams before light.” I’m proud to say that my first muse, my niece Addie, has grown up to be an amazing and kind person. I had big dreams for her as a little girl, she’s exceeded all of them and then some.
Describe your first gig.
There was this coffee shop in Martinsburg West Virginia called Cosmic Coffee. My dad and I played a gig there together. He sang some songs, then I sang some I wrote, and then we played a few together, including “River” by Joni Mitchell. I was probably 14? Technically our first performance was “Imagine” at the Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church (very subversive church music!) but Cosmic Coffee was my first gig-gig.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
I almost went to law school (I scored pretty high on the LSAT, I think a 165?) and have worked in rights & licensing for media companies. I wouldn’t say that I enjoy selling my labor to wealthy people. I worked at a river guide company one summer and that was pretty fun.
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 have “quit” music many times in the last five years and this second run of “doing” music has only lasted about five years. I am just starting to make a reliable-ish amount of money on gigs and streaming and sales, something I can sort of lean on with regards to my monthly budget. I hope it improves. Things are so rough out there for everyone and especially for creative industry type folks. Seems like everybody, especially tech oligarchs, want to get their piece of the pie. I am trying to imagine // scheme // plan for a way to build a life and career outside of that toxic feedback loop, especially in the Coming Times of Struggle.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
Nobody can take your voice away from you. Nobody else gets to decide whether or not you’re an artist. And you don’t have to force it. In fact, force––forcing your body into overdrive, forcing your voice into some artificial sound, forcing yourself onto the road, into a new city or scene, to make nice with people who don’t align with your values––force will burn you out and grind you down. The trick is to figure out how to do this work forever. How to make being an artist sustainable in the long term. And that takes gentleness and confidence. A tricky combo.