What are the things you do to maintain your mental and physical well being while on the road?

I have some chronic back pain from a kickboxing injury a while ago. To avoid acute pain from it flaring up, I try to do a workout every day either before we drive or between soundcheck and the show. I also try to walk as much as I can when we get to the city we’re playing and stretch my legs. I have a seat cushion I bring on tour that’s for truckers but WOW it helps so much with all the long drives. As for mental health, I try to limit screen time when we settle down wherever we’re sleeping for the night. Not partying every night on tour also helps limit the come downs after shows. Being hungover is never going to help you feel better, so I just drink here and there. 

How does touring affect your relationships, both platonic and romantic?

It definitely makes it harder at times. My job and schedule don’t make me as inclined to be the kind of present friend I would like to be. I’m just not around and when I am it is so inconsistent. I try to just be as consistent of a person when I am able to be present and trust that the real friendships I have are down for the ride. It’s hard dating when you’re on the road but it’s possible! You just have to find someone who has a lot of trust and enjoys having a lot of autonomy. If something is meant to be, it will be! This job certainly expedites the process of that, haha. I’ve also met so many dear friends through touring, so most of my great loves and best friendships wouldn’t exist without having traveled. 

What’s something you have done to make being a musician work for you? Some friends of ours have donated plasma, lived on boats or signed up for dog walking apps. 

I lived out of my van for a while and stayed with friends and family for a few years before moving from Iowa to Chicago. Not having a place of my own was tough but it made focusing on music possible. I recently babysat for someone downtown in Chicago. It was fun cosplaying being someone wealthy enough to live down there and take a kid to the playground in Millennium Park. It’s wild how different downtown feels than where I live out in Logan Square/Humboldt Park. I’ve had many bartending, serving, shop, random ass gigs over the years but sleeping in my Honda Odyssey definitely felt like the most “wow I must really fucking love music” thing I’ve done to make it work.

Do you feel like there is financial, and emotional sustainability and stability in being a touring musician? Or do you have an alternative plan down the road?

There is not! The plan is to accept that and ride the waves. The successes, good paying gigs, happy memories, financial busts, and hard times all take turns being the main subject of this lifestyle. Enjoying the highs while they’re there while also being mindful of them and pushing through the hard times knowing there’s an end to those chapters is the job. Someone told me that a few years ago and I hold onto that advice when I feel lost, broke, and/or both. The more secure and stable I feel within myself, the more possible this career feels longterm and that’s what keeps me going. My growth as a person and as a musician is very symbiotic. I don’t want to do anything else but this because nothing else feels right to me.

What is your stance on streaming and the “future” of how people consume music?

Streaming is a hot mess right now. The blatant corruption and bizarre things happening with AI being talked about more is angering but I’m really glad it’s finally being talked about as much as it is. As disheartening as streaming and music online is, there is a feeling of change coming. It can’t keep going the way it is, so it has to change. How it will change? I’m not sure. I think people will start to make their way back to finding music on their own rather than clicking on playlists. Smaller playlist curations, house shows, cds, etc. are coming back.

Do you feel like you’re seen as childish for pursuing music as a career?

People who like to judge me because they’re dissatisfied with their own lives have outright said that or made me feel that way. The real ones respect it and see the hustle and value in it. I used to feel that way about it myself but the more I respect myself the quicker I am to brush off people’s negative outlook on it. I’m very lucky to have a lot of friends and family members who believe in me. The few that don’t aren’t around anymore in a close way and I really don’t mind that. My parents believe in my music a lot and that is something I don’t take for granted. I have friends whose parents don’t care, think it’s bad, or aren’t with us anymore. The fact that my parents emotionally support me by telling me they like my songs, come to shows when they can, etc. is not lost on me. 

Describe a moment when you felt like you “made it” - whatever that means!

Getting to open on tour for Jeff Tweedy last fall was really special. I respect him as a musician so much and getting to be on the same stage every night felt like something I could not have done without the years of hard work I had done to get there. My new songs feel like a step up as a writer and getting to share them in that setting felt real deal in a way I hadn’t felt before. The songs now took years of practice as did the guitar playing and singing. It takes real, nasty, hard work to grow as an artist and recognizing that within myself made me appreciate that tour even more so. I wasn’t ready until then to do that tour right or have the songs that landed that well with the audiences. 

Stress and Bliss. What are they for you while touring? 

They are happening simultaneously the entire time, haha. I love the feeling of the road and also know it’s stressing me and my body out underneath the bliss of it all. Bliss is a view of a beautiful landscape and with a sky looking huge above it from the car window, the disorienting and exciting rush of big buildings all around you when you’re finally deep inside NYC. Stress is thinking about ticket presales, the oil change, and the stomach ache from the “on sale” gas station sandwich while looking out those views. 

How do you deal with writer's block or creative slumps?

I try to accept that they’re a part of the process. When I feel a slump, I know it’s time for my brain to focus on other things and live life so there’s something more to feel and write about. If that slump starts to feel like a blockage, I just force myself to write. This winter I wrote eight bad songs to get out of a writing slump and finally one came out after those that felt incredible. Even those bad songs helped me work the writing muscle and keep it fresh. If words are feeling impossible I lean more towards guitar and just play instrumentals for days and days until finally a vocal melody or lyric idea finds its way out. The more I think about all of this with all of these questions, the more I’m realizing how similar every aspect of being an artist is. You can’t control 95% of what happens or the art that’s flowing through you, but you can control some decisions, how you respond to things, and trust that there is something worth trusting about it all. 

What do you want the audience to take away from your live show? 

Anything. If they can feel one or many feelings that’s all I want. I want someone to feel glad they got out of the house and felt like they spent their hard earned money on something worthwhile. If the sad songs helped them lean into processing sadness, that’s great. If the happy ones helped them feel better or ride the high of joy, that’s also great. I can only control what I’m doing on stage and even then, the music kind of just screeches out, especially when I’m singing. So I can’t control how the audience feels, but I’m always hoping I can guide them to feeling anything but numbness while they’re watching our set. But even if someone came out to tune out something else, then god bless if we helped them do that too. It’s whatever they want so long as everyone is respected and feels safe.