I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how my life experiences have shaped the way I write music. I’ve lived across so many places — the first seven years of my life in Lynchburg, Virginia; twenty years in San Diego, California; seven years in Vilnius, Lithuania; and twelve years on a small farm in Schönkirchen, Germany. If I manage to live a few more years with my emphysema, I will have spent more than half my life in Europe.
Along the way, I’ve celebrated birthdays in so many locations: American states, Mexico, London, Sweden, Russia, Lithuania, Poland, and Turkey. Each one was an experience — a snapshot of life in that place, full of textures, sounds, people, and unexpected moments. Some of my most vivid memories come from traveling in Eastern Europe and Russia: sitting in Soviet cinemas watching cartoons where ideology turned Little Red Riding Hood into a Young Communist League hero, or spending 24 hours on a Soviet train on my birthday with three strangers who shared vodka, snacks, and music with me, while a samovar steamed quietly at the end of the car.
All these experiences — the good, the challenging, and the extraordinary — have shaped how I perceive life. I can’t say exactly how, but they clearly did. They inform my songwriting, my humor, my empathy, and my perspective on the world. When I write, the songs flow quickly, often in minutes, and I feel every note, word, and rhythm as a full sensory experience.
I’m sharing this because, as creative people, our lives — our observations, journeys, and even the smallest moments — feed directly into our work. I hope it inspires other artists to look at their own lives, reflect on the experiences that have shaped them, and see how they can bring all of that into their art.
