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Here it is, folks: the new music video for "The Hound" - directed by Josh Lerma. If you haven't yet, go check out the official premiere article & interview at Global Texan Chronicles! Please do me a favor to support this song by doing any/all of the following:
Purchase on iTunes & leave a review Like/Comment/Subscribe on YouTube Add to a Spotify Playlist or create a Station Share on your own social media sites
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So excited to share that on it's release day, my new single The Hound was listed on iTunes.com as a Bestselling Pre-order and peaked at #13 on their Singer Songwriter charts, fitting snugly between two of my favorite music inspirations, Tracy Chapman and James Taylor! Thanks to all of you who pre-ordered the song and helped it have a tiny little moment among the greats!   Thanks to my friends at Global Texan Chronicles for premiering my new single and music video for The Hound! Read the full interview and watch the video here!  Thank you to Tim Pyles and the folks at 91x San Diego for spinning my new single The Hound for the very first time on the radio! So thankful to live in a city that shows love to its local artists! Check out the full playlist from the show here.  Thanks to Olivia from Sexy Pillows Podcast for inviting me to be a guest on her show! She stumbled upon me and my song "Turn into the Wind" while she was doing an episode about The Wind, and she asked me to come on and talk about how the song was inspired by The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Take a listen here! 
During the recent coverage of the California wildfires, I read about two people who were found burned beyond recognition trying to escape. I’ve been sick to my stomach imagining what it might have been like to lose everything, even your life. I can’t stop picturing myself in a car with my wife in the same situation. What would I even say, knowing I was unable to keep her safe? My heart bleeds for all the families suffering. I sat down to write this song, and ended up incorporating a bit of the Modern English song "Melt With You" into the chorus. Lyrics: fire’s coming round the mountain, babe, start running for the car no time for family photo albums, records, or guitars freeewheelin’ dylan was my savior but I cannot return the favor i know them all my heart anyways they’ll be blowin’ in the wind after the blaze you’re the only thing that i refuse to lose even driving toward death’s door, you’re my refuge when the world stops burning, this flame will continue and i’ll melt with you smoke’s clouding up our eyes, babe, open your ears and try to hear me they may not recognize our bodies but I’ve memorized your spirit leaving life is really scary but skin and bones are temporary my love for you’s the only truth that stays it will be blowin’ in the wind after the blaze you’re the only thing that i refuse to lose even driving toward death’s door, you’re my refuge when the world stops burning, this flame will continue and i’ll melt with you  I wrote this song in honor of a young friend, Tyler Hastings, whose funeral I recently attended. Most of the attendees were fellow Red Cross workers, all wearing their red shirts in honor of him. Red is usually such an aggressive color, but on this day, I saw it through a softer lens and decided to write about it in the context of mourning and celebration of life. Tyler was one of my Patreon supporters, and he never failed to offer encouragement and humor, not just to me, but to everyone around him. I'm very thankful to have known him. Lyrics: red today, i’m seeing red todayi’m seeing red today not in an angry way red like a cross that saves on disastrous days or a heart that loves in fantastic ways read like the cartoons when you’re searching for laughter red like a curtain that falls from the rafters at the end of a play, we all make our way off the stage and i don’t pretend to be certain but i’m pretty sure that curtain will rise again it’s just a matter of when  Yet another song about the current state of leadership (or lack thereof) in our country. When I say “we ain’t worth keeping” I certainly don’t mean human life isn’t worth anything. I mean that when we treat life as meaningless (either our own, or other groups of people), or when we demonstrate with our words and actions a belief that money/power is more important than the well-being of life/the planet, there are severe consequences, and we’re seeing those consequences play out in our society daily. I am so saddened by where we are but also not in the least bit surprised based on our choices/actions as a society. It doesn’t take a genius to realize a Trump presidency was going to produce the circling-the-drain reality we wake up to every morning. I believe our country is diseased, and in order to cure that disease, I think we should promote education, celebrate diversity, encourage and applaud service, provide all people with the food, housing, healthcare, and mental health services they need, respect all religion (or no religion) while firmly separating it from our government, put down our defenses, be willing to listen, and acknowledge the hurt and fear we all feel. Above all we need to take ownership of the the ways we individually contribute to other people’s suffering even when we don’t intend to or aren’t aware of it. In a nutshell, we have to take care of each other. Until we all collectively decide that money and power are not worth the countless innocent lives lost to senseless acts of hate and violence, we will just continue to be desensitized to the skyrocketing probability that we, our someone we love, will be shot and killed in public by a stranger with a gun. The “getting used to it” is our body/brain’s way of coping with trauma. I hope in my lifetime, we rise up, fight that numbness, fight that greed, and make every sacrifice possible to show that we value human life more than we value wealth/power, comfort, and convenience. Lyrics this is what we get this is who we are we’re the tin man who ran away from a heart this is who we are it’s easy to explain we’re the scarecrow who said no to a brain you see, that rug is getting bigger the broom is getting thicker we ain’t worth keeping, so it’s sweeping us under we’re reaping what we’ve sown this ain’t no place like home this is what we get this is what we’ve become we’re the wicked and the cowardly just eating up our young this is who we are this is what we get ain’t no yellow brick gonna get us out of it and that rug is getting bigger that broom is getting thicker we ain’t worth keeping, so it’s sweeping us under we’re reaping what we’ve sown this ain’t no place like home  As we approached Halloween and the midterm elections, I had this thought in my head about how it's felt like Halloween since Trump got elected...just kinda feels like the country's been circling the drain for the past 2 years. I just chuckled and thought it'd make a silly spoof song, but didn't actually write and record it til the administration started bullying the trans community and pipe bombs started going out in the mail addressed to prominent Democrats. Right after I posted this some American terrorist murdered a bunch of elderly Jews in a synagogue. Like I said, scary fucking times. Which is why, even though this is a spoof, I don't look like I'm having very much fun. To the tune of "Lil' Red Riding Hood" by Sam Sham & The Pharaohs.
Lyrics: it's been halloween ever since 2016 trump makes freddy seem like a nice daydream (boo) talk about doom & gloom when you can't afford the emergency room and you're terrified w/ chills cause your wages won't pay the bills what big lies they tell i'd rather live at the bates motel than watch my country slip away to the nra & the kkk what big hypocrites getting rich for the apocalypse i gotta say, it's a scary day now that putting kids in cages is the christian way it's been halloween ever since 2016 trump makes freddy seem like a nice daydream (boo) talk about horrifying putting predators in power and ignoring science when every fox news line sends a shiver up & down my spine (boo) what big lies they have i'd rather jason chase me in a hockey mask than watch rights get stripped away for brown, trans, female, homeless, poor, or gay what big hypocrites placing blame on the journalists aspiring to be like our enemies & conspiring to murder our democracy it's been halloween ever since 2016 trump makes freddy seem like a nice daydream (boo) here's what we're gonna do listen up now i'm talking to you this red's gonna kill us dead so please vote blue 
Not one, but two podcasts featuring yours truly premiered today! Hope you listen to both in entirety, but if you want to skip around, I took the liberty of breaking down each episode for you below. Both The Dusty Futon and Unstarving Musician podcasts are wonderful supporters of local/indie music. Since I always get asked about my beginnings in the music industry, you'll see I talk about some similar topics, but the flavor of each show is totally different, which is what makes podcasts so cool! I definitely recommend subscribing and browsing some of their past episodes!
Dusty Futon
3:54 - When I Started Playing Music 8:06 - Coming Out/Getting Married Young/Therapy 10:05 - Cathryn Beeks/Listen Local San Diego 11:10 - "Surrogate" w/ Commentary 13:38 - Studio Studios/Alex Dausch 15:03 - Boxing 16:06 - Touring/Performing 17:00 - Multitasking 17:18 - Anxiety / Mental Health 19:20 - Winning a San Diego Music Award 21:50 - The Lovebirds 25:20 - "My Beast" w/ Commentary 30:10 - How I Started Playing Guitar / My Writing Process 35:07 - Music Influences 37:30 - Kleenex Jingles and Taxes 41:50 - "Rubber Band Gun" w/ Commentary (& Crying) 
Unstarving Musician
4:50 - Amy & Gary's House Concerts
6:38 - When I Started Pursuing Music 8:22 - Side Hustles 10:40 - Basketball / Boxing 12:26 - More Side Hustles 14:30 - Rye Room Sessions / "Deep Dark Down" 16:20 - Studio Studios / Alex Dausch 20:13 - Tracks vs. Lights Out 22: 55 - Not Giving AF About Genres 24:23 - Gratitude Journaling / Anxiety / Insomnia 31:44 - From Central California to San Diego 34:00 - Basketball vs. Music / Music Therapy 36:20 - New Music / What's Next 37:27 - Writing Faster Than I Can Record 38:40 - Moving Past Grief / Raging Feminism 40:20 - Writing Routine / Songwriting Book Club 43:45 - Songwriting Groups / Peers 46:16 - Folk Festivals & House Concerts 47:30 - Tenacity, Patience, & Resilience 51:05 - Touring 54:38 - "Surrogate" |
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