I smile at the treasure chest of memories I have full of so many years and fun nights of music. No guarantees. Me, a guitar, a bag of clothes and a trunk full of merch loaded into the back of my 99 Honda Civic. It was reckless, and risky. It was the right thing to do.

I experienced depths of mind-breaking solitude and I stood on the peaks of spectacular elation that exist beyond description. Every day the unknown was all there was. I left it out there. I was alive.

I like to think the treasure chest full of snapshots of my life then smiles at who I am now. When I listen close, several voices always whisper to me simultaneously, “I was here/I’m still here/I am here.”

An incomplete list of musicians I shared a stage with on my Great Adventure: Gregory Alan Isakov, Joshua James, Will Hoge, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers, John Hiatt, Lydia Loveless, Fort Atlantic, Bob Schneider, Eef Barzelay, Kris Allen, Kopecky, Brian Van der Ark (The Verve Pipe), The Autumn Defense (members of Wilco), Mike Kinsella (Owen), Cameron McGill, Julie Odell, Steve Ewing (The Urge), Kris Roe (The Ataris), Adam Burrows, Joey DeGraw, Tyrone Wells, Ali Harter, Ever More Nest, William Elliott Whitmore, Jeff Hanson, Beth Bombara, The City on Film (Bob Nanna), Ross Christopher, Bound Stems, Sleepy Kitty, Matt Hopper, Judith Owen, Brad Hoshaw, Midwest Dilemma, Southerly, Joel Levi, Matt Cox, John Maxfield, Owen Pye, plus many more.

Here you’ll find over 300 shows I performed across the United States. Within these words are tens of thousands of miles. Tens of thousands of dollars in tour costs, gasoline and repairs. Hundreds of generous strangers and new friends. Dozens of States. Dozens of “jaunts,” tours and one-offs. 20+ years. 4 records. 2 Oceans. 1 chance of a lifetime. 1 beloved 1999 Honda Civic (RIP) who never told me it’s name...