1) How did you get started in music?
Well, technically, I started when I was
about ten years old — I just didn’t know it. I was always writing poems,
rhyming words, just trying to make sense of whatever was going on in my life.
My dad used to tell me, “Son, you gotta turn those into songs someday.”
I didn’t know how. I didn’t have the confidence. I wouldn’t even sing karaoke
unless I was in a room by myself.
After my dad passed, the grief kind of
shoved me into it. I sat down and finally finished a full song because it felt
like the only way I could still talk to him. Once that happened, something
opened up in me. I bought some equipment, stayed home, hit record, and Creekbed
Saints was born right there in my living room — no stage, no spotlight, just
survival.
2) Who were your favorite artists growing up?
I grew up on whatever my folks had on
cassettes. I’d rewind, flip the tape, fast-forward — all that old-school stuff.
I loved the deep cuts from John Conlee. George Jones was a big one. Tanya
Tucker. Then when the 90s came around, it was Tracy Lawrence, Randy Travis,
early Tim McGraw, guys you could sing along with and feel like you were
actually hitting the notes.
Tim McGraw especially… it’s like his songs showed up at the exact moments of my life when I needed them. Big personal stuff would happen, and boom — here comes a McGraw song that felt like it was written for exactly what I was going through. That stuck with me.
3) What inspires your music?
Honestly? Real life. The messy stuff.
Addiction. Grief. My dad. God tugging at me even when I didn’t want Him to. The
regrets I’m still working through. And a lot of the time, the songs show up
when I’m driving my vending truck down the road — I’ll have to pull over just
to write a line before it disappears.
Songwriting has been therapy for me. It’s the only thing that makes my brain slow down long enough to heal a little. When I write, I feel like I’m still having conversations with people I’ve lost. And if somebody else hears a line and feels understood, then the whole thing was worth it.
4) How would you describe your music to someone who's never
heard it before?
It’s Southern storytelling, plain and
simple — country with a gospel backbone, written by somebody who lived the
story before he ever sang it. It’s raw, it’s honest, it’s not polished up to be
pretty. It’s for folks who’ve been through some things and need to hear that
they’re not alone.
If you like songs that sound like someone telling the truth at the kitchen table, then you’ll get what Creekbed Saints is.
5) What would a dream collaboration be?
Well, Tim McGraw’s been the soundtrack to
half my life, so that’d be the big one. If I ever got to sit in the front row
and hear him sing something I wrote, I think that’d be enough for my whole
career right there.
I’d also love to write something for Jelly Roll. He understands struggle and redemption in a way not many artists do. I feel like we speak the same emotional language.
6) What are you currently working on?
A bunch, actually. I’ve got one full
album out already, another one complete and ready for release — the title track
is “What Had to Be Done,” which is a tough one about domestic abuse and
a man finally stepping in to stop it.
And I’m deep into something I’m excited about: a Female Country Answer Album. I’m taking classic women’s country songs — Reba, Dolly, Sylvia — and writing the man’s side of the story. Not changing their titles, not arguing with the women… just answering the storyline from the other perspective. It’s been a challenge, but it’s some of my best writing.
7) What are your ultimate goals for your career?
I don’t have to be on a stage. I don’t
have to be famous. I just want to write songs that matter and maybe help
somebody the way writing them helped me.
If I could sell a song to a big artist
and hear my words in their voice? That would be a dream. And if someday I get
to stand on the CMA stage handing out an award next to Faith Hill, making a
joke about Tim, well… I’d probably survive that moment too.
Mostly, I just want to honor my dad. He always said, “Son, people who hurt you have to be them for the rest of their lives. You only have to be you.” So that’s my goal: be me, write truth, and let the songs do their work.
