MY MUSICAL JOURNEY

EARLY INFLUENCES

Growing up in the warm California sun, my dad played classic rock in his shop and my mom played soft rock and pop ballads in the car. I alternated between a world of Van Morrison, The Who, and CCR and Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Barbara Streisand. When I wasn’t in either of those worlds, I was immersed in spiritual and gospel music of multiple traditions through my grandma and my aunt as I sat next to them at the piano.

Music was enlivening and also mysterious to me. After all, People magazines were big in my house. I’d page through them and see the gowns, the hats, the diamonds, the glitter and the sparkle. I’d hear about the Oscars and the Grammys. I was mesmerized. To my mind music artists and actors could be anything, do anything, have anything. They sang about things I wasn’t allowed to talk about. They wore things I wasn’t allowed to wear. But I didn’t care if other people thought their dresses were too sheer, their platform heels were too high or their leather pants were too tight. To me, they were limitless. And FEARLESS. 

My family moved to the midwest when I was 10, which brought exposure to all kinds of new music through one unexpected source- the school bus. One bus driver was friendly and one bus driver was embittered toward who-knows-what but somehow all I heard was Z100 playing Matchbox Twenty, Pink, Alicia Keys, The Black Eyed Peas, Usher, Missy Elliott, Vanessa Carlton and Christina Aguilera.

MUSIC AS AN ANCHOR

On the edge of 13, I experienced personal health challenges that pushed me and my family into a time of crisis. During that time the world felt as though it was spinning faster than I could possibly keep up. It was then that music really became an anchor.

As I recovered, I rejoined my peers and my friends began passing me mixed CD’s of nearly every genre of music. Coldplay, Incubus, Modest Mouse, Yellowcard, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sting…the Guerrillas. And I was perfectly poised in my teen years to fully embrace the soulful emo rock that emerged in the 2000’s. Hello Evanescence and Green Day! After all, high school brought driving! That meant I could listen to whatever I wanted. I tried to sort out life by running long distances or driving on country roads in an old station wagon. By the time I graduated, that car had one hub cap.

I sang in choir and theater in a small town surrounded by cornfields and cows, so it felt like the most exciting thing in the world when our choir got to pack up and venture off to New York City. Something about standing on the stage under the vaulted ceilings, romantic archways, and ornate balconies of Carnegie Hall lifted me and gave me a glimpse of what was possible. Freezing in a pink mini dress and gold stilettos in Times Square I felt exhilarated. 

RETURNING TO THE DREAM

For all of this, it may be surprising to learn that I didn’t actually launch right from there into a career in music. I think for some reason I doubted myself. But in 2018, it all came back around for me when personal transition and attempts to find my own resilience led me to do a photoshoot project in the Arizona desert. That weekend changed my life and I found my voice again. I began writing original music in the Colorado foothills with a dear friend shortly after and released my first single in 2020, titled Unveiled.

2021 brought me to the Pacific Northwest, where I am today. In a dramatic way, I arrived by plunging into the family cauldron, witnessing the passing of grandparents and the births of new nieces. In the dust storm of pages turning I found myself staring at my own soul, asking often by candlelight, by the ocean, or under the stars, how to live on and what was truly in my heart to do, to be, to create…

Today I am living that answer. I am carrying my dream and honoring the gifts I held so tenderly as a starry eyed kid with big plans.

Now I write, record and perform original music throughout the Pacific Northwest. The collection of songs I’m working on today explore where I’ve been, where I am now and where I’m going. Filled with relational themes, fantastical stories, images of nature, compelling rhythms and emotive undercurrents, being in the music and creating process makes me feel so alive. I love to sing, and I love to create and be in the generative co-creating process. There is nothing else I’d rather do. 

When people ask me what kind of music I make, sometimes I say it’s a mix of indie, folk, singer songwriter, and pop. But for me, it’s really music from the heart. I follow what moves me. I live and lead and work from my heart. And when I sing and share music I feel at home in a way I never have before.

It’s my hope that my music will be an anchor, a gift, a resource, and an inspiration to you too. More new music is on it’s way…

Thanks for reading. Thanks for being a part of this journey. And thanks for listening to the music.