When and why did you start making music?

“Just more recently, probably about three years ago, I started writing music, and then the pandemic hit, and I had a lot of inspiration for what I wanted to write so life kind of changed and (I) adapted.”

What was the process like to create your music? Were there any challenges you had to overcome?

“I think the main challenge was people telling me that I shouldn’t quit my day job. And I’ve always been compared to other singers so I thought, if I just make my own songs, then no one can compare me. I have my own songs and I sing my own songs. Probably the biggest challenge I’ve had is just overcoming fears of rejection.”

What was the inspiration behind your music and your albums?

“The biggest inspirations came from the way I saw the world going, and just how the world kind of ‘stopped on a dime’. And I think seeing a lot of the different dynamics in politics, a lot of the division and the hate, especially like my song “Cancel This” is about canceled culture and how people say anything and all of a sudden (they’re) canceled. All the inspiration is from the way I felt the world is getting more divisive and trying to create enemies between people.”

What is your favorite song and why?

“I love my political songs just because they’re fun and they’re a satire kind of thing. I have one song that’s coming up (which) I’m creating right now. It’s called ‘A Man Ain’t a Prophet in His Own Hometown’. It’s going to be coming out on my next album that should be out in the next two months. That’s going to be my favorite song. It’s about my friend who passed away from COVID and he was a soldier and a wonderful man, and he (was) only 40 years old. I lost him at the beginning of this year and that was a huge hit for me. So as I sing it, I have a hard time singing it without kind of breaking out a little bit.”

What message do you hope to create to your audience?

“I want to create an atmosphere of fun and reflection around music (and also) around lyrics. I feel the more fun we can put into the world, the better the world is going to be. If we can dance and sing and then just kind of reflect on what’s going on in the world as well. I think that’s probably the message I want to send: it’s just that it’s okay to be you, and to be who you are, and not to be so quick to destroy people’s lives over something as silly as what they think and believe.”

What reception have you seen about your music on campus?

“I get mixed reviews, because I think some people don’t understand the idea of freedom of expression. That’s one of the hard things nowadays is that people that agree with my music or whatever you want to take from it, however, they’ve interpreted it, they love it. People that don’t agree with it, they have a very strong reaction in the opposite direction. I think it’s proving the point that I’m trying to make is that we ought to just respect people for what they believe. We should have a diversity of belief…it should all play out in our votes and in our culture. The underlying problem with the world is that we are too quick to dismiss people that don’t believe like us, instead of trying to embrace people and just saying, ‘Hey, I might be on a different team (than) you but it’s just a team and we are all on the same team in general.’” 

Who is your biggest music inspiration? 

“George Strait, Joe Diffie, Tracy Lawrence, and Randy Travis: those three guys sum up my (music inspiration). They are 80s and 90s country artists that I think universally most people just have a general idea of what country is through them.” 

What are your top three favorite songs out of the music that you’ve already released?

 Trump Girls, LGBFJB Community, and Make A Song.