“Chasing Ballads,” August, 2020

Since moving to Nashville in 2017, my idea of what it means to “make it” as a songwriter has changed over and over and over again. I’ve learned that —despite all the necessary collaboration— this is often a lonely pursuit. The pressure may only come from within, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s there seemingly constantly, filling me at times with devastating self-doubt. But what calms me when I’m feeling overwhelmed is the realization that such behavior isn’t unique to me; it’s not even unique to someone pursuing a career in the arts. We all experience these flurries of emotion, and we all have to find ways of coping with them. That is the very shared human experience that the storytellers I admire capture so gracefully, and it is what I aim to get better at myself in the years ahead.

Chasing Ballads is about finding love you believe in and going after it. It’s about acknowledging your past and letting it motivate your future. It’s about finding the courage to live in the moment without throwing caution to the wind, and learning that so little in life can be accomplished on your own, even if the road you’re on is sometimes a lonely one. 

Here’s to more songs, more records, and an ever-evolving understanding of what it means to find success.

Creo quia absurdum est.

//B.A