My great grandmother knew how much I loved the old German piano she had at home, with the chipped ivory and broken keys. I fell in love with the tone and sounds that would come out of this giant wooden piece of furniture. She gifted me my own piano when I was 3 years old. My playing started as banging on the keyboard and of course, the occasional round of Chopsticks! After years of formal lessons, I began writing instrumental piano pieces and performing them at dinner shows at the local church. 

My dad also had an old department store acoustic guitar in the house. I would pick it up and try to learn chords from the old music books he had. As I got into my teens, most of the music I was listening to was guitar driven and I wanted to feel that energy! At sixteen I was gifted my first guitar and I started writing and recording music into a four-track recorder I had saved up to buy with money from my part-time job. It’s been a passion ever since! 

My early career started in the River City music scene of Richmond, VA in the late 2000’s as a member of the band Crashing Reality. We played regularly at The Canal Club, The National, The Camel, and The Capital Ale House in Richmond and shared the stage with the likes of Ed Kowalczyk (from Live) and the band Thriving Ivory. We released a self-titled album in 2009 that I recorded and produced myself, and was mixed by Ian Whalen (Lamb of God, Tombs, Rah Bras, Alabama Thunderpussy)

In 2014 I connected with producer Matt Singleton (Train, Storm Large, Jay Stolar, Valkyrie). We set up camp at his studio in an old barn in the countryside of Charlottesville, VA to work on a live acoustic folk-rock project titled “Bricks & Boards”. It’s a partnership that has grown to this day, and has resulted in my first full length solo release, “All These Years”, which was released in October of 2019 on Matt’s label, SMTM Records. 

It’s hard to believe “All These Years” has been out for a little over three years. We have close to a half million streams at this point! We also released three new singles in 2020, and another in 2021. I love creating and telling stories through my music, and these songs tell a very personal story that has been forged through the last several years of my life. Jobs won and lost, major moves, the birth of my daughter, personal revelations, family triumphs and tragedies, and a stripping down of what is, and what is not meaningful in my life are all encapsulated in the stories we tell.  

And there’s more to come! We are busy in the studio writing and recording, even as we continue doing the marketing work for “All These Years” and the other singles. There will be many more stories in the blog, and through my social media channels, and we have some big ideas in mind for 2023! It’s gonna be a great year. I hope you enjoy the music, and the journey!