Photo courtesy of Bobby Murphy

I started playing piano at a very young age and was always praised for my musical abilities growing up. I knew I craved attention from performing, but the only art programs I had access to was community theater and a pretty sad marching band in my tiny, rural, western Kentucky town.

My years of piano study landed me a scholarship to attend college in Memphis, Tenn. Memphis was a big city for this small town boy. I was quickly thrown into jazz ensembles, rock bands, and even formed a small trio with my friends and started to perform around town. I don’t remember the exact moment but it was somewhere around my freshman year that I knew this is what I was meant to be doing.

The feedback that you get from a live audience is incredibly validating. I knew I had something and that started to quickly evolve. The greatest decision I made was to move to Memphis permanently. I know a lot of people who have careers in entertainment that wouldn’t necessarily agree. However, Memphis taught me to hustle while giving me daily opportunities to perform and evolve as an artist without busting my ass in New York City or Los Angeles waiting tables five nights a week. Instead, I was on stage, honing my craft.

Had I moved to Los Angeles in my early 20s, I might not have had as much success. I spent 12 years in Memphis and now in my 30s, I finally live in LA. I got to cut my teeth in one of the most legendary music cities in the world while being able to afford to live as a working artist. And I also grew the fuck up, so I have some sort of wits about me out here in the great Wild Wild West.