Usually when I'm in the van or if there's downtime, I'll just mess around in Garage Band and work out melodies or ideas I've had in my head. There was a period where I creatively plateaued and wasn't writing at all. But I have been creatively a bit more inspired lately - it has everything to do with moving and being in motion.

In other words, the hidden subsidies [designed to help individuals seeking college degrees] are not helping those who most need help in getting a degree. It's also helping lenders, by providing an incentive to borrow. So why not take that $22.75 billion or so that we're already spending and putting it directly toward making public higher education free?

I guess I wanted to emulate the artists that my parents were listening to when I was growing up. I've always had this affinity for folk music, and music in general, for as long as I can remember. So as soon as I could start playing shows, I did. And my parents were really supportive of me the entire time.

We operate from this position of, "Let's build the skeleton and then insert the filling." We have this ping-pong dynamic with each other where we're able to try different things and bounce different ideas, and it ends up being us building our music together. I've never had a moment where I've been like, "I don't like it." Actually, that's total bullshit. I've had many moments where I'm like, "I don't like it," but it's always evolving.

I had gotten to know the music scene there, and just fell in love with it. I've lived there a little over four years now. There's a charm to Denton. The musicians in Denton are all very talented, but they're also all very accessible and very community-oriented.

Usually when I'm in the van or if there's downtime, I'll just mess around in Garage Band and work out melodies or ideas I've had in my head. There was a period where I creatively plateaued and wasn't writing at all. But I have been creatively a bit more inspired lately - it has everything to do with moving and being in motion.

When I was younger - in elementary school - my parents are both teachers, so we moved around a lot. For the most part we always lived, before we settled south of Dallas, we always lived in the outskirts of city suburbs, kind of in these weird, desolate neighborhoods. Very brown and flat settings. I love Texas, I love the openness.