ABOUT THIS ALBUM

City Lights was the first album I made with a budget from a label and a real producer. I spent two years writing 60 plus songs and absolutely believed it was my make or break opportunity for The Workday Release. We narrowed 40-50 of the songs down to 10 and ended up tracking 6 with Warren Huart (producer of The Fray, Augustana, James Blunt, Aerosmith).

It was an amazing process that taught me so much about songwriting, musicianship, and embracing myself as an artist.

I remember when it came out though and didn’t do well, I just wanted to quit. I was convinced I wasn’t meant to be in music at all and should find something else. It was incredibly defeating.

Now when I look back at that time, I just see everything I could have done to push the record myself rather than waiting on others to do it for me.

Nevertheless, I lost all motivation to continue forward and even had a last show for The Workday Release in Los Angeles at The Troubadour.

Warren was the one person who stayed on me about continuing. He pointed out all the areas I had been ignoring in my career that were to blame for my lack of momentum.

Up until this point I had convinced myself that I had literally done everything I could to succeed. Once I was aware that I had not, it was hard for me to feel good about giving up.

I do remember at that point feeling like I was starting at the very beginning again. It was very humbling.

My favorite track on City Lights: The Other Side

I wrote The Other Side about never giving up on my passion for music and I couldn’t even sing it at that final show at The Troubadour because I knew I had. It’s one of those songs where every time I play it, I instantly go back to how I was feeling when I wrote it. It’s one of the most honest songs I’ve ever written. I’m grateful The Troubadour wasn’t my last show. I’m still playing live and I’m still singing this song.