Nashville-based singer, songwriter, guitar player and recording artist who is a three-time GRAMMY nominee. She has released two singles so far this year, one of which she performed in her Grand Ole Opry debut back in April. Her voice and songwriting can be heard across all genres including film, television, and musical theatre and she has written songs recorded by Kelly Clarkson, Miranda Lambert, Cassadee Pope, Kellie Pickler, Brian McKnight, and many more. She has shows still to come this year not only in Music City but in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Destin, Florida, Covington, Louisiana, and Morrow Bay, California. This interview was recorded on-location in conjunction with her performing as part of the 2nd Las Vegas Songwriters Festival.
“I had just been dropped from a publishing deal in Nashville which happens, right? You're in and you're out of your deals and I had just gone back to waiting tables in a restaurant, so I’d wait tables at night, I’d write during the day. I'd play shows on my nights off.”
“No matter who you meet, you don't know what someone's story is and so especially in Nashville, though, if you're in a restaurant, there's a good chance that your server is musical.”
“I've had, gosh, seven publishing deals now in my life.”
“The Grand Ole Opry was the stage that was my number one dream, right? When you think of Nashville, when you think of country music, that's where it all started, right? And that circle represents everyone who came before me, who will come after, it's just the history of country music, all kind of swirling in that circle. And so, to get to be invited to sing on the stage!”
“I got a really early start in music. I signed my first record deal when I was 11 years old.”
“Being in theater really taught me what I was made of in terms of pressure. I thought working in film and television and writing on those deadlines had really showed me what I was made of. Let me tell you what; musical theater, you are absolutely pushed to your limit and if you can make things better being at the height of stress, anxiety, pressure, I think you can do anything and that's what it taught me.”
“I have a big heart for songwriters and our next generation and people of all ages who just love to write songs.”
“If you're constantly morphing with what's new and cool and losing your voice just to kind of be what's cool and hot right now that really will not work for you in the end.”
“I get called by (Operation Song) to sit down and write with a veteran or a gold star mother or a child of someone who's passed away or a veteran who's finally come home after 20 years of service; from all the different wars, all the different areas of the military, and I always say it's the most important thing that I do with my songwriting.”
“The Blade”
“Play Me”