Bio

In her own words...
“I was really trained in more of a classical music background. I played French Horn for years. My
mother actually taught me.
She was quite the musician
herself. We would sit at the
piano and she would play
the horn and then I would try. She was a good teacher for sure. I feel fortunate to have that memory.
As far as music goes, I have had a
wealth of experience. In my earlier years, music allowed me the opportunities to do things I would have never been able to do or experience. I performed at President Bush’s inauguration, traveled the nation
and the experiences and people I met were incredible. Looking back though, I think I always was a songwriter at heart. I could create an orchestra in my head. Frankly, I thought everyone could do that. I never thought it was special. It was as natural to me as breathing and I just enjoyed it.

I joined a band late in college. I quit
the DePauw orchestra, stopped playing French Horn at weddings, and began to sing. I was not a very good singer at first, not to mention I felt extremely awkward on stage. It struck me sort of like being in front of everyone in just your underwear. Very frightening! I think this is the case with most people however, until you get used to it and you have breakthrough. That just happened over time. Now I love the feeling of getting lost in the energy of a live show. I have this energy explosion of sorts inside and it just has to come out. Many people comment on my vocal style. It is a style developed over time, hundreds of shows
later, and just by nuancing my voice little by little. I never was a vocal student. I was disenchanted by the whole notion of singing scales and bla bla bla. BORING. I am way too impatient. I hardly ever read directions. I like to learning by trial and error.
..........more

When I went to college at DePauw
University [Greencastle, Indiana] I would steal away to the music rooms to play the piano. I would find myself losing hours at a time. It gave me a space to put all of my problems, and of course, to put my homework assignments on hold for a while. It was really my mediation.
I always wanted to play guitar but
never learned ... not until one day I just went out and bought one. I think you come to your real instrument like being thirsty for water. I just wanted to play guitar. I was just thirsty for it. It was probably my intuition at work. I bought a
Fender acoustic for my twentieth birthday and never looked back. I spent two weeks obsessed with learning the foundation of it. I used the musical background I had
already acquired to figure it out. Now quite a few years later, and many guitars bought and sold, I guess I am a singer songwriter.