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On long family road trips, my brothers enjoyed watching movies on their portable DVD player. But I was listening to vintage western swing records my mom played on repeat.
My grandfather played the same songs to us on his guitar. I learned guitar hoping to develop the same smooth rhythm as my grandfather.
I wrote my first song when I was 12 years old. It’s called ‘Rollin’ – a song about driving with my friends. Listening back to it, I can hardly recognize myself.
At 12 years old I was convinced I was grown up. Now, my songwriting has changed. It focuses on more intimate things in my life. Things like friendships and family relationships and the kind of person that I want to become.
All my fears of saying things face to face fall away when I’m writing a song.
Music is something that helped me discover who I am. And after years of feeling different from my peers, it has played a major role in my adolescence as a companion I can always lean on. I’m grateful for that.