I’ve been slowly eeking out a career as a music journalist, critic, and blogger since 2010. I previously worked as a freelancer at American Songwriter Magazine, where I contributed over 30 multi-genre online music and concert reviews. Before that, I worked as a contributing writer for the arts, entertainment and culture newspaper The Murfreesboro Pulse, where I authored more than 20 music reviews and feature articles. My writing style has been described by some as “amply cynical for Rolling Stone, but not acerbic enough for Pitchfork.” However, I approach my dissection of music from an objective perspective rather than to simply disparage or praise an artist’s work.

I’ve loved music since the very first time I heard it as a kid (my dad’s vintage Hank Williams records and my eldest sister’s albums by the Beatles), but my own musical identity was profoundly impacted when I bought my first U2 album in 1984, and again during country music’s explosion in the early 1990s. Those two events forever changed me, and music has fervently permeated my life since. Country music broadened my musical pallette while U2 opened my eyes and ears to the world.

I prefer listening to entire albums rather than singles to fully appreciate artists’ complete musical thoughts instead of just their abbreviated highlights. I’m constantly on the hunt for exciting new music to unexpectedly command my attention, as I don’t choose the music I listen to, it chooses me. If I had my druthers, I would listen to, analyze, and discuss music 24/7.