Q: Please tell us about yourself.
I’m 25 years old, and I love music and storytelling! I play music full time, which is a far-cry from what I went to college for! I graduated from Hillsdale College in 2020 with a degree in molecular biology – I was originally going to go into medicine. But, with the world and medicine so changed by the pandemic, I decided to give music a try. It’s been a wild journey, but after living in 3 states as a musician I have fallen in love with live music’s ability to bring strangers together. I’m a Catholic, an outdoorsman, a home-brewer and a hobby model-maker as well.

Q: Please tell us about your current, past, or future career. What do you love most about what you do?
I started out being a kid who loved music – my parents would have to put me to sleep when I was a toddler with Bruce Hornsby, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, Bonnie Raitt, etc. Growing up I took classical vocal lessons, and then taught myself to play the guitar. I learned harmonica after I picked up an old and rusty chromatic harp from an estate sale in Glen Arbor, and later that year also taught myself to play the Native American flute and the Mountain dulcimer. I’m from Plainwell originally, but I would spend my summers living in Glen Arbor and running around experiencing the music that this area had to offer. That inspired me eventually to learn the piano – and when I was 10 I wrote my first real song called Summertime Minstrel. I loved the way that playing felt, and I wanted to try and do what I had seen so many great musicians do live during the summers, so I asked Lake Street Studios, an art gallery in Glen Arbor, to let me play out front of the gallery during their art openings during the summer. From there, I went through my summers during highschool and college playing as many venues as I could around Glen Arbor, Traverse City and Lake Leelanau. Over time I started getting my name out more and I kept honing my abilities as a musician and entertainer to be able to actually pay for my college education by playing live. I had to take “the plunge” when I graduated college in 2020. I decided that I couldn’t see myself doing anything other than playing music, so I played as many shows as I could that summer and then moved down to Athens GA that fall to continue playing in wineries and clubs around Northern Georgia. It was truly an amazing time, I began to listen to so many new artists and live lots of exciting stories that I could then write about in songs. Being in Northern Georgia also exposed me to the Atlanta jazz and hip/hop scene. I had many fun dinners and hang-outs with people who turned out to be big producers, and got to play with a lot of new musicians in styles I had never thought about doing before. When I made the permanent move to Maple City early in 2022 I was a very different musician than I was when I had graduated college – I thought more about improvisation and about arranging songs in unique and strange ways. This was when I started to modify all of my cover songs into my own special arrangements of the tunes. Rocketman or The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald might be the two most different arrangements I have of great cover songs. I’ve never stopped writing though, and each song has been getting a little better than the last! I love being able to share fun stories from my life and of ordinary life – because ordinary life as we call it is full of so many amazing and amusing moments, and I love being able to highlight them and share them through what I do as a musician and songwriter. It’s also just amazing to be able to get together with people and bring us all together through such a common language! Going forward I never want to stop performing. I’m working to become more of a national act, but I will never stop loving or being around the Grand Traverse area – I love it too much!

Q: What is your favorite book?
The Martian

Q: What are some of your favorite restaurants in our community?
Broomstack Kitchen, Modern Bird, North Peak

Q: How long have you lived or worked in our community? What brought you to Grand Traverse County?
2 years now full time, but I’ve been doing it at least 6 months of the year for about 10 years. I came here as a little kid for summer vacation – my family is lucky to have had a little cabin just outside of Empire that we could go to as kids to have an up north summer. I fell in love with Traverse City during that time, and I’ve stayed in love with it!

Q: What advice would you give to people who want to visit our community?
There are so many fun things to do here, so don’t stress about trying to do all of them while you’re here! Grand Traverse is always expanding, but the art, food, music and entertainment here has been around and will be around for a long time. Just enjoy the moment you’re in fully:)

Q: If you could choose anyone today with whom would you love to have lunch? Why? And where locally would you all meet?
I would love to have lunch with Bruce Hornsby! He’s my musical hero, and I have so many musical questions. We’d probably go to Firefly, there’s a lovely few spots on the Boardman River there, and it’s a nice laid back environment for hanging out.

Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community?
I love how many people of faith there are here – as a Christian I never feel like I’m alone. Grand Traverse keeps the feeling of a small town while having all the amenities of a big city as well – that’s pretty cool!

Q: (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
I love to do home canning and pickling!

Q: Which yearly event in Grand Traverse County do you enjoy best?
The Christmas Tree lighting! Something about wintertime up here is especially cozy.

Q: What is your favorite season in Northern Michigan? And what is your favorite activity to do in that season?
Fall, hands down! I love to go river fishing during the salmon run, or just hiking around seeing the colors.

Q: Finally, what 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
Music, community, God