Life, family, and music.
I was on my way to meet my friend Claire for our cowriting session one day when I drove past a billboard for Grey Goose vodka. The sign said, “Fly beyond.” Before I go any further, did you know titles are not copyrighted? Copyright law sees titles as too short and vague to be copyrighted. […]
A Lesson in Copyright Law from Grey Goose Vodka Read More »
Most attendees at the Aster Cafe in Minneapolis that night likely thought it was a drunk, oblivious stranger passing by. They weren’t far off. It was my slightly inebriated cousin Erik, doing a dare by his likely much more sober brother Karl. They were only sorry that the shenanigans just so happened to be during
How My Cousins Pranked Me at My Own Concert Read More »
You might think the best day of my life would be the day I got married or the birth of any of my kids. You might even think it was the day I signed my first publishing deal or recording contract. Don’t get me wrong, those days were fine and everything. But they simply cannot
The Best Day of My Life Read More »
Prioritizing songwriting is hard, especially when your to-do list is eight miles long and work has you exhausted. Scheduling songwriting on your calendar is a great first step in taking your craft more seriously and improving your chances of actually writing. But you’ll still run into what Steven Pressfield, in his book The War of
How to Maintain a Daily Writing Routine Read More »
For Gavin and Holly For those of us in the U.S., it’s Memorial Day weekend. Every year at this time, I’m reminded of the musician I respect the most. It’s not the guitar player. It’s not the drummer or the bassist. It’s not even the first-chair violinist in a philharmonic orchestra. These musicians are fine
Memorial Day and the Musician I Respect the Most Read More »
In 2018, I hit a songwriting slump. I had trouble finishing work and felt the songs I actually completed were mediocre. The long-term solution, I would later realize, was a long rest. I had been writing nonstop for six years. Plus, our family was growing. With the added parenting demands, it was unrealistic to sustain
“Do you ever worry about burnout?” Theo S. Hi, Theo. That’s a great question. Burnout is something I think about a lot because I’ve had to deal with it over the course of my career, especially during my early days here in Nashville. In 2012, when I signed my first publishing deal, my calendar began
AMA: “Do you ever worry about burnout?” Read More »
One thing I love about songwriting is that everyone has their own perspective. It’s the Anaïs Nin quote: “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” A tree isn’t just a tree. It’s your relationship to it. You might see an old birch along the boulevard, and someone else sees
Songwriting Prompt: Mother’s Day Read More »
From the EP Wonder (2019) Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube If you’re writing a song that you can’t seem to finish, it’s easy to feel bummed out, like all the work was worthless. In 2016, Dori Marcum and I were collaborating for her artist project. If I’m remembering correctly, we spent two days trying
[#012] Behind the Music A-Z: “Because of You” Read More »
“Dad.” “Daad.” “DAAAAD!” The fact that I couldn’t hear my son (he wanted a glass of water) wasn’t because I was engrossed in my phone. I wasn’t even holding my phone. I couldn’t hear him because I was replaying a loop in my brain of something I’d seen on my phone earlier, from social media.
Some Thoughts on Digital Minimalism Read More »