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Minnesota-based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist whose latest release was a seven-song album last September. Despite the pandemic, he has still been very active playing live shows, in 2021 alone including multiple dates in Wisconsin, North Dakota, and there in Minnesota, plus many more upcoming, including a booking as far out as early August already. Whether as a solo artist or with his band, he has routinely performed over 200 shows per year, including some of the top country music festivals in the U.S. Along the way they’ve performed at events that have also included the likes of Lee Brice, Ronnie Milsap, Jerrod Niemann, Easton Corbin, and more. Last year he and his band even started a tribute featuring the music of the legendary band Alabama.

Notable Guest Quotes

"For me it's harder to write that fun, uptempo love song 'cause you don't want to get too cheesy.  It's easy to get pretty cheesy and lovey-dovey and I always like to have a little edge to my music and my lyrics and it's always a balance to find that where it doesn't get too bubble gum, lovey-dovey, but still have a little edge and then still have some good meaning behind it."

"Everything's been done with the love song, it's, like, how different can you say it, is kinda the challenge and it's a fun challenge.  I really enjoy songwriting and that whole process."

"I've always kind of started my projects here in Minnesota, doing a lot of writing, and I took my first trip out to Nashville in 2009.  It was really a huge eye-opener to me as far as the whole songwriting world and really taking recording to a whole 'nother level being able to track with, just, world-class studio musicians."

"As I was there the state of Minnesota went on lockdown.  I'm like, 'Am I gonna get back into the state, driving back'?! ... I pretty much just passed out in my car in a parking lot somewhere."

"I don't like to put things off because you tend not to move forward."

"My heart goes out more so to the live music venues because at least as a performer we could do some streaming and kind of work what we can, but as a venue, if you're shut down, there's nothing you can do."

"We've done a ton of fairs, festivals, major country festivals.  We have a bunch on the calendar this year... and we're looking forward to getting back on those stages 'cause we missed it all last year, which was a big bummer."

"Twin Cities Summer Jam... Zac Brown Band is the headliner.  We're kicking off that stage.  So, we're looking forward to that."

"I go back to when I first took that trip to Nashville and listening to these hit songwriters play their songs and then I look at the ones I wrote, I'm like, 'I got a lot of work to do here'."

"When people ask, 'Well how do you start with (writing) the song?  Is it the title?  Or the melody?' and it's really never the same process twice, which is fun."

"In the songwriting world they say, 'There's no good songwriting.  It's just good re-writing'."

Songs on this episode

“Anywhere”
"My Life Playlist"