In January he released an EP that got over 60 thousand streams on Spotify in the first month alone. A singer, songwriter based one hour north of San Diego, he is about to release a full album, which will have twelve songs and come out on July 3rd. Last year there were a million-and-a-half streams of his music on Spotify alone. Along with his wife and kids he also has a family YouTube channel that has over five million subscribers and close to four BILLION views. Meanwhile, his latest music video has already gotten almost 135 thousand views in the first month alone.
"When my grandma picked us up and moved us to Idaho, she started me in Idaho Opera. And that was actually where I got a lot of my formal singing training... That's really where I learned a lot of my foundation of music knowledge and songs and stuff."
"After I had already sort of had this platform on YouTube, I had this love of songwriting kind of come to me again."
"I can create as much music as I want. So, it's really put me in a good spot because I'm able to be in (my recording studio) anytime I want to songwrite and I have a producer who I've been working with for five, six years now. So, he's always ready to jump in there and start working on a new song."
"It used to be... I would write at one, two in the morning. But now that I have the studio it's been really nice because it's disciplined me to sit down and schedule those times and actually write. So, I think having the studio has put me more in that mindset where I actually can sit down, switch on that creative vibe, and make something come from nothing."
"I went to Nashville in January and I was just so inspired by the community and by the respect for the art."
"The pandemic definitely showed us that our skills are still sharp because we wrote, like, nine or ten songs during quarantine just over FaceTime and text messaging and stuff."
"If everyone in the room is in that mindset that they're servicing the song and servicing the message they want to tell, then the song will get made."
"I start every songwriting session like therapy. So I basically just ask the other writer, 'What's on your heart? What have you been going through? What have you been thinking about latey?' They'll ask me the same thing."
"It's always overflowing. I just love to create. I was born to be a songwriter... I just love making music."
"Hey"
"Golden State of Mind"
** Bonus audio with Bryan Lanning **