Stories with a Soundtrack

If you had told me five years ago that I’d be spending this much time writing songs, I’d probably have laughed.Actually, I definitely would have laughed. At you. Openly. I would have lost a lot of money if you had laid bets too. Dont get me wrong, writing has always been part of who I am. Stories, magazine articles, newspaper columns, product reviews, radio dramas, blog posts… if there was a way to tell a story using words, chances are I had tried it or I wanted to. Songwriting was the one box that remained unchecked until a friend challenged me to write just one song. (If you haven’t heard that story, see previous blogs). That “one song” turned into Country Cause of You. Then another. Then another. Somewhere along the way I stopped thinking of songwriting as something I was experimenting with and started realizing it had quietly become part of who I am. What surprised me most wasn’t that I enjoyed writing songs. It was discovering just how incredibly powerful music is. A story can make you laugh. A story can make you cry. A story can make you stop scrolling for five minutes and think about your own life. But when you wrap those same words in music, something changes. Music has this amazing ability to slip past all the walls we build. A melody can make a lyric hit harder. A single note can carry emotion that would take three paragraphs to explain. Sometimes a chorus says more in thirty seconds than I could ever write in a thousand words. That’s what keeps drawing me back. I don’t write songs because I expect everyone to love them. I write because I hope someone out there feels something. Maybe they laugh. Maybe they cry. Maybe they stop for a moment and think about someone they love, something they’ve lost, or a choice they need to make. If a song can do that for even one person, it was worth writing. Lately, that creative journey has grown into two very different musical projects that Carla and I have been building together. Backcountry Bandits gives us the freedom to tell stories about the people and places that shape us. Sometimes those stories are funny. Sometimes they’re about life in the outdoors or the kind of adventures that become legends around the campfire. But other times they’re deeply personal. Our first release, The People Others Have, is a tribute to the quiet heroes who show up, help others, and never ask for recognition. It’s a reminder that the people who make the biggest difference are often the ones nobody notices. Whether we’re making people laugh or wiping away a tear, the goal is always the same: tell honest stories that connect with people. Feral Warrior lets us explore a different side of storytelling. It’s darker, heavier, and often more introspective, drawing inspiration from mythology, resilience, grief, strength, and the battles people fight – both around them and within themselves. Songs like Better Men Than You ask listeners to look beyond ego and remember that history has always been filled with people who came before us, overcame more than we can imagine, and left the world better than they found it.Oddly enough, both projects come from exactly the same place – storytelling. One looks at the world through the lens of everyday life. The other looks through the lens of legend. But both are really about people. Working on these projects together has become one of my favourite parts of writing life. Carla has an incredible ear for what a song needs, and we’ve spent countless hours throwing ideas back and forth, rewriting lyrics, debating melodies, laughing at terrible first drafts, and occasionally wondering if we’re both completely insane. It’s been one heck of a ride – and we’re just getting started. If you’d like to hear what we’ve been creating, I’d love for you to start by listening to these two songs:

The People Others Have by Backcountry Bandits is a tribute to the everyday heroes who quietly make the world a better place without ever expecting recognition.

Better Men Than You by Feral Warrior is a reminder that no matter how accomplished we think we are, there’s wisdom in humility and in recognizing the perils of a woman scorned.

Follow and subscribe to our channels on your favourite streaming service link below to keep up with all of the new releases coming this summer ❤️

Backcountry Bandits listen here ▶️

Feral Warrior listen here ▶️

Whether you’ve been reading my writing for years or you’ve just stumbled across this little corner of the internet, thank you. The words may have found a new melody…but they’re still trying to do exactly what they’ve always done: Make people feel something. And hey, if you find yourself tapping your toe and singing along, that’s even better.