I don't know about you, but 2020 can go take a long walk off a short pier.

The backstory... 2020 started with my attempts to distract myself from feeling dangerously raw and vulnerable. The previous year felt like a rollercoaster and I was losing trust in the world, life, people...

My mom's emergency brain surgery, glioblastoma brain cancer diagnosis, watching her learn to walk, eat, do radiation, chemo... Travel from TN to CO to TN to WY to CO to WY to TN to almost immediately leaping into 45…

On July 9th, 2018 President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her during high school. Three other women also accused him of sexual misconduct. One woman recanted. Kavanaugh denied all accusations. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a supplemental hearing over Ford's allegations. Despite nation-wide protests, on October 6, 2018, the full Senate confirmed Kavanaugh's nomination by a vote of 50–48.…

I recently released my new single Dr. Ford — I've performed this song in my live sets for 2 years and every time I do, someone walks up to me after the show to thank me for playing it. It's also still an emotional challenge for me to perform without crying and breaking up the song.

So anytime a songwriter releases a new song, especially one like this, we hope it's well-received by as many people as possible. This is why I was absolutely floored and deeply honored that ACLU So Cal featured my so…

I'd like to introduce you to Carmen Hultman.

Carmen loves hugs. She missed hugs so much during quarantine that she recently donned a hazmat suit and walked around her neighborhood with a can of Lysol so she could offer her neighbors hugs.

Carmen and her husband, Nate, also love music & music makers.

When I was mid-career change and financially struggling, my studio space was in a huge, dark, empty, and VERY COLD, unheated church sanctuary. It made practicing hard, painful, and unnecessarily d…

Note: This episode might contain triggering content for some audience members.

This month in The School of Bravery we've been focusing on the bravery ingredient of POWER OF CHOICE, while last month we covered VULNERABILITY. Both topics relate to what I want to bring up with you today...

Cyberstalking.

This is one of the rawest and un-edited podcast episodes I've ever published. There is crying in this episode, but you'll also hear hope and thankfully, power of choice.

I've been silent on th…

Did you know that only 5% of audio engineers are female? This is tragic. Can you just imagine the get-it-done, super-rad albums haven't been made yet?!

Mackenzie Spear and I met through the glorious thing that is social media. There's this not-so-secret Facebook group for Nashville Music Women and it's been an amaaaazing resource to have as a new Nashville resident. Especially, as someone who wants to see that previously mentioned percentage change drastically, preferably as soon as possible.

This episode features Coltan Foster, bassoonist extraordinaire and supreme advocate for arts education. When I began my album Covered in Clover, I just *knew* it would have bassoon. So Coltan was the first phone call I made to ask if he'd be willing help with this project.

I admire Coltan so much. His perseverance, vulnerability, and authenticity are so crucial to not only being a decent human being, but also an excellent musician.

When he and I recorded Covered in Clover, he had just graduate…

This episode features Gary Mula, the co-producer and audio engineer for my latest release, Covered in Clover. I came to him looking for a safe person to try out my ideas. He was an absolute joy to work with and I highly recommend working with him to anyone looking for an experience (co)producer with an ample amount of experience in the Seattle music scene.

In today's episode, we discussed what that working relationship was like, how it was to bring in so many musicians for this album, how the S…

This episode features Mandy Troxel, a singer-songwriter and dear friend of mine from Orcas Island, WA. I asked her to be the first episode of these conversations discussing my latest album release, Covered in Clover, because she witnessed each version of the evolution of these songs over the last 5 years.

Please go take a minute to visit her website below and check out her music. She's brilliant and I'm so glad you get to meet her and get to know her more today!

The music mentioned in today's …

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A couple weeks ago, my songwriter friend, Sarah Jane Nelson, introduced me to this organization called The Beat of Life. They have a program here in Nashville called "Redemption Songs." They pair up professional songwriters with an inmate from a nearby correctional facility during a day-long songwriting process and concert.

The goal is to use songwriting as a tool to process the feelings and events that have happened and are happening in their lives.

I was pretty nervous, having never been to …

A song I wrote during Dr. Ford's Senate Judicial hearings got a new layer of meaning with the news of Ryan Adams and R. Kelly this week...