Tomorrow I release my album 'A Coming of Age'

Hello world,

These songs have followed me for the last four years… The moment after I wrote the first song, I started growing. Continually growing in all areas of my life and music. I sang into $30 USB microphones for a year, just learning how my voice worked, trying different things on. I remember going over to my bandmate at the time Tanner’s house and putting word and melody to chord changes for the first time. It gripped me, how I could convert my own feelings and concepts into something bigger. Once I had a few songs ideas under my belt, I remember thinking to myself “I’ve got to get better.. so that the sounds in my head can be accurately recorded from vision to reality”.

So I just started growing… I got serious about lessons, songwriting, and learning a whole new language in recording music. Every month of my life since then has been dedicated to learning some new process or skill for the benefit of seeing a vision come to reality. I probably made and destroyed some iteration of this album about three times because the result hadn’t met my threshold of acceptability yet. I remember trying out tracking at a studio for the first time with who turned out to be the wrong people, and weeping tears of sorrow as I listened back to initial mixes because it wasn’t aligned with my vision. And vice-versa, I remember finally meeting the RIGHT people at the right studio to bring the songs to life and weeping tears of joy as we finalized the mixes you hear today (Victor Gaspar, I love you, thank you brother).

What’s funny is I never stopped to question if I was ever going down the right path... I just kept rolling down the road with a head full of steam, slowly picking up momentum when it came my way and willingly churning up the hills whenever they too came.

I feel so happy and at ease releasing this music out into the world. These 11 songs have lived with me for so long it feels liberating to let them go. Each song truly marks my first attempts, my Chapter One. So while you just see 11 tracks on a screen today, there were SO MANY subsequent steps that were necessary beforehand to get those to you.

I’m not so sure all the messages on the album fully represent who I am, how I feel, or even what I’d make at this given moment. That’s the thing about older work. It ages. I do however, love the idea of putting it out there and looking at it as this time capsule.. marking the significant moment in time where I felt my music reached the point that I felt confident in it enough to share it. What doesn’t age though, is my heart and effort stamped into these recordings, I hope you can hear that through the stories I tell on the album.

So what’s next in my immediate future? Well now a lot of my creative energy is going into refining a live set. I need a band. If you come and see a show post-quarantine I’ll most likely be on my own up on the stage for now! But the plan is to have a full band set so we can all sing together. I want to get out of the coffeeshops and into the bars and venues.

-And we’re tracking the next single for a new era here in a couple of days, I expect it to be in your ears sometime in the Summer. Who knows, maybe we’ll throw a party that day and we can dance and sing together once all the craziness settles. Until then I want to thank you. For your love, patience, kindness, and support. Especially to my friends and family that wrapped themselves up in this project with me, I love you.. I truly hope you enjoy ‘A Coming of Age’, I had an amazing journey making it.

There’s nowhere to go, but up.

With love,

Jon