I was a good student. My mom is a teacher, and her side of the family is all teachers. She put a big emphasis on getting good grades.
My family was all musicians. We jam all the time.
Kids think books are cool, especially when they see that people they think books are cool are reading.
It's hard to deny talent. If you're good, you're good.
My world on the road always ends up feeling really small which is ironic because that's when I'm seeing the most places and meeting the most people!
Getting on stage, for me, was a huge thing when I first started. And back in high school, everyone was in rock bands and I was a singer/songwriter. It just seems kind of lame.
Education is one of the most important tools that you can give somebody.
It's like a dream sometimes, a song just pops into your head and you can't tell if it's something you heard or it's new and you got to write it down.
I've been really lucky to have a lot of cool people and to be around a lot of cool celebrities that I've got to learn from.
I never was strutting through the hallways like, "Yeah, I'm a singer/songwriter." That's never a cool thing to do - to be the brooding guy.
I can't figure out why fans keep coming, maybe it's because they dig the songs.
I don't know how to make magic. For most songwriter's that has only happened once or twice, and I don't know how to re-create that. I know that there are some tricks and tools, but the magic is the amazing part.
I don't how many of us get to go to the next level, and I don't know how many people on my level get to go to the next level after that. I think it is the songs that can take you there.
A lot of people can figure out the social media aspect of it, or the merchandising aspect, or whatever and get enough momentum to start a career. To sustain it, you have to keep writing and you have to keep creating.
As an independent artist it is so easy to get caught up in websites, social media, merchandise, when I am going to put out an EP, fining a producer, finding a studio to record in and you have to remember at the end of the day you should be writing music.
I went from living with my parents, to being signed out of high school. I have never, not had a boss, or someone else responsible for me. It is really cool as an artist to have that freedom.
I think one of the reasons that I love the fans that have stuck around, because I really enjoy writing different kinds of songs. I don't know if I write them well or not, but I can write them.
There is also something exciting about the risk. Somewhere in me is a sadist that likes pain, I guess.
Music comes out of me most naturally and would be the hardest to give up forever.
