RIPTIDE-New Single Out Now!

“Riptide is a song of lament and desperation. As I have watched and felt the world around me crumbling in on itself with bitterness, anger, finger pointing, and deception, I have felt completely tossed about not knowing how to trust anything or anyone to be true and I honestly have felt like I was barely hanging on to a faith of any kind. It reminded me of a time I was holding my friend’s daughter in the ocean at the beach. I noticed I was getting a little further out with each wave and when I tried to step toward shore, I had a very hard time getting good footing. It was scary for a minute, but I did make it to shore. I shared this with my friends Steve Hindalong and John Mulder individually at the Mercyland songwriter retreat in Hot Springs, and we ended up together in a co-write the next day. They asked me a lot of questions and really brought the rest of the song out of me and I brought the title Riptide based on that feeling of being pulled away from safety. I’m grateful to them for letting me be so raw and vulnerable and for handling it all with such care.

The September 2024 hurricane and flooding has given a new poignancy to this song. Leading up to release day, I wasn’t sure I should go through with it in light of all the destruction and loss. But I felt a pull to move ahead with it. Again… the song just happens to have been written in Hot Springs, NC. A town that is now destroyed by the flooding. Suddenly, even the cover artwork carries a different kind of weight to it. Every writer and musician and even the producer on this song have been a part of a community of writers who have a shared history of time spent in Hot Springs for writer workshops over the years.

As part of Bandcamp Friday on Oct 4th, I will give all proceeds to flood relief to help those in the Southeast who have been displaced by Helene.

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE TOWN OF HOT SPRINGS, NC FOR YOUR HOSPITALITY OVER THE YEARS. YOU HAVE OUR HEARTS.”