YONDER BREAKS

My newest EP, Here Are Some Covers , is out now! This one has been a long time coming. Over a year ago, I noticed that the dramatic shows my wife was watching (mostly Grey's Anatomy) would use cover songs in the shows, most likely to get a recognizable song for cheaper. I thought, maybe I should try my hand at that... , and started recording some cover songs that I regularly played in my sets. Here's one from 2019 that made it onto the album: I grew up listening to a lot of classic country/western with my grandfather, and so I knew I wanted to incorporate a lot of that into this one; but I also had a few other songs from lesser-known bands that I liked to play, plus a song I had recorded with my oldest daughter Eleanor that I thought would be fun to release.  However, the project was interrupted when I signed on with The Wright Music Division of The Jackson Agency earlier this year (that's a good interruption!), and I found myself writing songs to pitch to TV shows. I als...

Growing up as a skateboarder in coastal South Carolina, I'm no stranger to heat. Somehow I would skate for hours in 90-degree weather, with a humidity in about the same percentile. I was just younger then I guess, but somehow I avoided a heat stroke time and time again.  Some time ago, I had to run an errand to Bellflower, where they have a skatepark I used to love visiting when I had had work there about once a month in 2014-2016. They have a unique mini-bowl with a slope that dumps into a head-high deep end, with carving corners on the way, as well as a dated, but still fun, street course. I haven't visited this park since 2016, but nothing has changed (except the playground across the parking lot has become a lot nicer). This neglected skatepark is off of a bike path and surrounded by coarse, dry dirt, somewhat ironically juxtaposed to lush green grass from the playground on one side, and a golf course across the concrete river on the other. Still, no one really needs a c...

Last Christmas, I didn't give you my heart, but I did give you a new single! (Dumb joke, sorry...) " Two Palm Trees " was written just before the pandemic, when my wife and oldest daughter would leave very early for school/work, sometimes before the sunrise. I would wake up with them, help them out the door, and oftentimes this was the view from my window after they drove away:     These two palm trees struck me -- something about the way they stood out in the skyline, particularly as the sun rose behind them. It sparked a metaphor for my wife and I, and the song ensued.   You and I are two palm trees Silhouetted in the sunrise Reaching up to Heaven As we grow together Dancing in the sea breeze Carrying all these leaves A beacon in the sky To you driving by You and I are two palm trees Swaying in the sunrise You see the shoreline I'll dream with you there We have a mission With a different destination A life of inspira...

It's no secret the live music scene took a huge hit last year. Festivals and tours were cancelled, as many working musicians struggled to figure out what to do financially, as well as with all their newfound free time. Personally, I had just come off of a year of trying to play one show per month, which might not seem like a lot, but coming from having never played a solo live show until late 2018, it was a growth point for me. After accomplishing my goal, I entered 2020 wanting to focus on recording, while still maintaining some of the performance momentum I felt like I had built over the prior year. Of course all of that came crashing down, but here we are over a year later and the world is opening up more. The Light EP album release show at Maeweather Music (RIP) Through a friend , I was able to book an hour slot at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA for a couple weekends this June. It's a really beautiful area with a lot of energy, and a nice way to sort of r...

I recently released my first self-produced EP! You may have noticed the heading on this website has been, "words + waves // stories + songs," indicating some combination of written word and song, with a reference to surfing because I love it (and I used to write about it all the time ). In keeping with that theme, I wanted to share the stories and lyrics of each song on this EP. Here is the first one for "Eleanor Means Light." Being a father and a songwriter, there is a certain expectation (even if self-induced) to write songs for your kids. You bring the mind the great ones, like " Isn't She Lovely? ," " Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) ", or one of my favorites, " A Father's First Spring ," by the Avett Brothers. When Ellie was a baby, I had started a song that would eventually become, " Let It Go Lullaby ," but was having some trouble finishing it. Sure enough, before finishing what I thought would be the first song I...