In early 2025 I released a collection of songs called Family . These songs came from many different chapters of my life. Some were over a decade old, some were brand new. But they were unified by an underlying theme, all sharing some connection to the story of my heritage, my upbringing, and my family. I was in New England – my current home that is a world apart from the North Carolina hills where I grew up. I was looking through old photos and found these amazing pictures of my grandparents...

I'm an avid journaler. I've kept some sort of journal since I was in middle school, and I almost always have it on me. I love journals because they document the whole process. Not just the actual songwriting, but the brainstorming, the doodles, the big ideas, the dreams, the failures, the weird thoughts, and the intentions. It's a process of figuring things out, usually in an ugly or raw way, until the way finally leads to something more beautiful. And this love of the process is the same...

A song about family Photo by Cory Wood I had been laid off from my job and was spending a lot of time at home. I had the first line of the song and the chorus written but I wasn't sure where else to take the song. At this time in my life, I felt keenly in touch with my mortality, as it felt like the evidence of mortality was everywhere. People were unwell. Some were dying. And suddenly my place in the lineage felt more important. I wondered how to measure myself against it. I was obsessively...