Most of the independent singer/songwriters I know started playing guitar when they were a teenager. They got a guitar for Christmas or their birthday and sometime in high school or college they broke out of their shell and started playing with a band or as a solo acoustic act. My story is much different than that... In 2006 my father died and it tore my world apart. A year after his death I was struggling with the grief. I bought a guitar, took a few months of lessons and learned how to play. When I played guitar I felt more at peace. I would play songs that reminded me of him and I'd feel sad but it was also an outlet for that sadness. In 2009 my brother was killed in a car accident by a driver who was asleep at the wheel. I started to play more and even started writing my own songs. When I performed these songs live people would tell me how much it meant to them because they have experienced loss like mine. The songs on this album were written as part of my healing process. There are a few light-hearted songs such as Have Your Heart, a song about my fiancée, and Grandpa Is More Than Meets the Eye, a song about how grandparents have more to them than they share with us grandkids. The most somber songs on the album are March 16th, which tells the story of my brother's accident, and Country Song, which shares my final requests for when I die. Good Bad Man is a tribute to who my father was. Travelin' Back East is a song I wrote about returning to your roots, your hometown and your family as a way to cope with loss. What Does It Take? is a song I wrote about my brother who is currently suffering from alcoholism. And the song Nashville is for anyone who has ever been told they can't or shouldn't do something you are passionate about. Finishing this album has helped me in more ways than I had hoped. I am putting it online, worldwide, for anyone else who suffers from loss. I hope these songs bring you peace & sanity.