Since about the age of five, I remember loving to sing. Church talent shows, school plays, choir, on my own. I’ve always felt this need for it, a way to express thoughts and feelings inside of me whether it was a song that someone else wrote or later on in my life something that I wrote. Singing in choir upon
Read MoreMusic has always been a huge part of my life - living in Music City only enhanced my love for it. When I was younger, my songwriting hero Sara Groves drew out that passion for sharing my heart through story and song; that’s when I started singing and writing, too. Over time…
Read MoreAs a kid, I enjoyed rap music for its unique ability to energize me. Later, I grew to love its social commentary. Eventually, I wanted to contribute back to the world, the mood, and the enrichment rap music gave me.
Read MoreI think we were born with music in our bones. There wasn’t a time I remember where music wasn’t a part of me. We both grew up using music as a form of expression.
As writers, our journeys were wrapped in trying to express what was happening on the inside. God has used music in our lives to help us relate to Him, ourselves, and the people around us.
Read MoreIt’s pretty weird to think about because as a kid, I wasn’t really a fan of music. I didn’t really care much for it. I still remember a time when I would be at church hearing music from the band and being super uninterested in what was happening. That changed when…
Read MoreMy high school art teacher, Dave Pawl, was very instrumental in my initial skill development and shaping how I was thinking about the role of art in the world, giving me the courage to be experimental as well as look to art history. In college one particular professor…
Read MoreI feel like I was always drawn to music, but my first desire to take piano lessons was when I first heard the pianist at this church we started attending when I was about 7. I knew enough about music to realize she was playing much more than what was notated in the hymnal and I wanted to know, learn and understand…
Read MoreMusic is something I have always been interested in, and for some reason, I am drawn to its creation and not just its performance. I grew up in a musically inclined family (especially my mother who plays piano, and uncle Chris who played the guitar) and I distinctly remember as a child…
Read MoreI've always liked the idea of documenting things around me. When I was in middle school, I almost always had a disposable camera on me that I would carry around. I moved when I was in middle school from Wisconsin to Florida…
Read MoreWe’d been in bands together off and on as teenagers and kept in musical contact ever since. Brenton and I have been occasionally collaborating here in there on single songs over the years but never honed in on a specific sound. We felt like was time to commit to a new fun project and call it a real band…
Read MoreI remember going to see a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at Zilker Park here in Austin when I was about twelve. It wasn't the first play I'd seen, but that memory sticks out to me as one where I saw the magic of theatre, and just felt a very visceral yearning to be inside that world of magic, too.
Read MoreI was a musician first although I never would have used that word to describe being a member of a church choir and school choir and taking piano lessons. I think I would've just described myself as having a love for music…
Read MoreWhat first drew me to music and songwriting was the freedom within the whole process of both. Music happened when I was probably 9 or 10 with my best friend teaching me how to play the drums on his drumset, which progressed to…
Read MoreSo I’ll answer this question in two parts because I was drawn to music much earlier than I was drawn to songwriting. I started playing piano when I was 5, and I played for five years which gave me a really strong background in basic musicality…
Read MoreDarrin Stephens on Bewitched. He was an advertising guy and I just loved the whole idea of making words and pictures work together. From a very young age I started telling people that I was going to be in advertising, “the word part, not the art part.”…
Read MoreI grew up in a musical home. My mother played and taught piano and was the Music Director for our church and my father played acoustic guitar and sang. They also had their own Folk trio, along with a friend, and they would travel…
Read MoreWhen I was twelve years old I started playing the guitar. I had an incredible guitar teacher. His name was Tommy Hiett. He is sort of a legend in the Dallas music scene. His approach was to have me bring him what I was listening to and he would teach me the songs I wanted to learn. I was listening to metal and punk music.
Read MoreI came to songwriting very late in life. I was formally trained as a singer from a very young age and studied music formally. But eventually, I grew tired of singing other people's songs and other people's words. I felt like I had my own words to say. One year, I committed to a new year's resolution to try writing songs ... I've been writing ever since.
Read MoreI grew up in a musical family. My dad is a drummer and was a gigging player when I was born. So, music was always part of my life. However, it was never forced on me. I didn’t start on the piano or anything like that. I remember my dad teaching me simple “boom chuck” beats on his kit when I was in early grade school.
Read MoreCreativity, curiosity, experimentation, exuberance, generosity, and joy are aspects of the life and work of Corita Kent that I want to embody. She was an artist, designer, educator, advocate, and Catholic nun. Her thought-provoking “Rules for Students and Teachers” is something I come back to again and again as I explore what it means to live a creative life of purpose.
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