How did you know you wanted to be a singer songwriter?
I grew up singing. My dad was a preacher and from time to time myself and my four sisters would be dragged up onto the stage to sing. This led to my sisters starting a little group and making a record. Maybe you’ve heard of them. They’re called the Dixie Chicks. Actually, that last part isn’t true. Their group was called the Reflections. As a young boy I thought they were huge and I really idolized them. They were only in high school and they were writing and recording their own music. I think this was the initial thing that got me thinking about singing and song-writing.

How did your family react when you decided to really pursue it?
They were a hundred percent behind me. I have to admit though, I think we’ve all been a little bit surprised, myself included, that I’ve made a bonified career out of it.

What are your major inspirations in your music?
I write about everything. But I’ll pinpoint three things that often get my juices going. Beauty. Whether the world around me or the woman beside me. I am newly married and my wife, Elina, is a beautiful person inside and out. Truth. For example, I have a song called “Carolina Blues” that talks about my Grandpa not leaving me any material inheritance. However, the inheritance of truth and love that he left far outweighs any financial blessing that he might have left if he had led a different life. God. God is a touchy subject. So many differing opinions in our day and age. Many people view God as a cosmic kill-joy, an indifferent and disinterested Creator, or an angry judge just waiting for us to screw up so he can blast us. But I have a much different view. I think God really loves us all. Every person. Whether you are on Wall Street or on death row. Whether you have been an upstanding citizen or you have done unspeakable wrong in your life. God loves us all. I think we desperately need God. I think much; if not all of our current problems are a result of man turning his back on God. Man playing God. It has never and will never work.

What are some pivotal points thus far in your career?
I started playing a weekly show about 4 years ago in Fullerton, CA at a little coffee shop called McClain’s. At the time I didn’t know it, but this was a major pivotal point. It has not been overnight... but slowly this has proven to be a very good way to build a solid fan-base. Because of the growth of the night, I had to move it to a bigger venue called Plush Cafe. More recently, my music has been featured on a lot of television shows. One Tree Hill, Rescue Me, Meet the Barkers, Summerland, Northshore, Numbers, Windfall...to name some of them. I started working with Tyler Bacon of Position Music as my manager and this was a huge step in the right direction. I recently booked a 7 month college tour on the East Coast and Midwest. I am currently in negotiations with a couple of major labels. By the time this article is out I’ll probably have signed one of the deals. We are close to arriving at terms that I feel good about.

You recently released "Hold On" which is your third album. How is this one different from your prior two?
I think the major difference is that I had a great team behind me. Tyler, my manager, worked very closely with me on making this album. The producer, Chris Karn, is an incredible producer. We met with a lot of producers that had produced hits in the past, and we still chose Chris who was relatively unproven as a producer. The only band he had produced a whole record for was his own band, Deccatree. Basically he hasn’t had time to produce other projects, because he’s been too busy making his own music, which is great by the way. He still finds little time to work on other projects, but since my project he’s produced a couple of other projects. One being Brett Bixby’s new album, which is so good it kind of hurts. Whether it’s his own music or someone else’s, I’m sure you’ll be hearing more production from Chris in the future that will turn your head.

"What are we fighting for" is a more political song than what we're used to from you. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
That song came out of me because of all of the news of another bombing here, genocide there, 30 more dead here. All of the war-related bad news in our world. I tried not to make the song too political. It is not my intention to rail on the Bush administration. My plea in the song is for all of us to start loving one another. I tried to make it more humanitarian rather than political. The second verse says, “People get ready, what’s your loaded gun? Silent indifference, hunger for vengeance, or words from a wicked tongue?”

I really did my best to implicate us all. We’re all guilty of choosing to hate rather than love. Choosing to hold a grudge rather than to forgive. Choosing to turn a blind eye to injustice rather than lending a hand. I hope to encourage everyone to choose to care, love, forgive... instead of just bombing or hating our problems away. That’s really what the song is about.

How does being married change your life or role as a musician?
Marriage has helped me be a lot more grounded and content. A lot of my songs in the past were filled with longing. Because I felt the need so sharply to have a companion, I found that to be what was always coming out of me when I was writing. Now that I know who I want to spend the rest of my life with, I feel like my song-writing topics will broaden. My wife, Elina, is also a recording artist. So she is very supportive and understands when I get into artistic-“my head’s somewhere else” mode.