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Behind the Music: "The Scratches: Part 1"
"The Scratches: Part 1" is a collection of songs that are simultaneously years old and brand new. This album is the first time they have been released into the world for everyone to hear through my favorite avenue of storytelling: me and my guitar. These songs tell stories about the frustrations of everyday life (“Happy Place”), asks and answers some hard questions (“Drown the Lonely,” “Empty Room”), navigates love and heartbreak (“Crazy for You,” “Friendzone,” and “Over You”) while still possessing some endearing ballads that remind everyone there is hope for a happy ending (“Walkabout,” “Fighter”). I started these stories in January of 2021 with no intention of releasing them to the world, but with the help and encouragement of my amazing friends, "The Scratches, Part 1" is now available on all streaming platforms! I hope these songs touch you the same way they have touched me.
“Happy Place”
If you’ve ever wanted a peppy, kick-off-your-shoes and escape bop, this is the song for you. It’s all about escaping from the frustrations of the office and everything that seems to be going wrong in life to a place you can relax and recharge. Whether that place is your man-cave in the basement or a spa day with the girls, everyone has a “Happy Place” that lets them feel at peace.
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“Drown the Lonely”
Everyone has experienced loneliness at some point in their life. I feel that the first time most people start to recognize they might be lonely is when they are in high school, and this feeling often follows us into whatever we pursue after graduation until we find our place in the world. “Drown the Lonely” is a song reflecting on how we navigate the loneliness, especially when we are at the lowest of lows.
“Over You”
Walking away from a relationship, whether it’s romantic or platonic, is one of the hardest choices a person can make. After all of the time you have invested into this individual, and how much they have invested in you, you still feel like you’ve lost something. “Over You” explores the breaking point, the moment one realizes they can and should walk away and how you never forget what you’ve gone through, even as you heal over time.
“Walkabout”
This my three-minute version of a romantic movie with a happy ending, the rom-com wedding song if you will. It acts as a bridge between the past, present, and future. It reflects on what has been, what will be, and what can be. It’s the moment two people decide to become one, the tale of how they got there, and their joy of going on the adventure of life together. I hope this song makes your heart as warm and fuzzy as mine was while writing and recording it.
"Crazy for You"
Everyone has seen the movie where someone has a crush on someone, but the person they like is clueless about it. I know I have, and this song is about someone pleading and begging and almost going insane over how their love is going unnoticed by the one person in the world they want to notice them. They’re invisible to their crush, and they can’t accept a world where they don’t end up together.
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“Friendzone”
The moment a person realizes their love is reciprocated is one so magical and exciting that I had to write a song about it. So cheers to coffee dates, road trips, fresh starts, everything else one could find in a Hallmark movie being wrapped up in a song.
“Empty Room”
Everyone takes photos. Some people hang them on the wall while others back them up to their laptops or phones. However you choose to save them (or delete them), a lot of these photos act as memories, a way to access the past and show something rather than tell it. “Empty Room” looks at how we organize these memories in our minds and find them later. I felt like most of us build a house, with a new floor for every year of our life. Some of them are lost over the years to make space for new ones, leaving us with an empty room we need to fill. And hopefully, we all leave this world with rooms filled to the brim of memories of those that we loved and how they loved us.
“Fighter”
This song has been my anthem over the last few years because of its reminder that no matter how hard life gets, no matter how beaten down I feel or heavy from the craziness of life, God is on my side. It’s my message that when I can’t fight, God’s fighting for me to climb my mountain, whether it is by crawling, walking, running, or some combination of the three. It’s my way of saying God is on my side no matter what.