Background and Education

I was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1991 and grew up in a middle class family as the oldest of two boys. I developed an interest in music at a young age, initially taking piano lessons, and can still recall being fascinated by Shirley Walker’s music for the animated Batman show, as well as the famous film themes of John Williams I heard growing up.

During adolescence I became a singer and guitarist and played in rock bands until my last year at university. I studied at Berklee College of Music on a composition scholarship—notably under Hungarian composer, Tibor Pusztai—and graduated with honors in 2015. After college, I taught private lessons and wrote music for an LA-based music production company before becoming more involved with classical music.

In 2023, I was selected to participate in the second Emerging Composers Intensive, at Hidden Valley Music Seminars in Carmel, CA. There, I had the opportunity to study under Curtis Institute dean and composer Nick DiBerardino, as well as American composer Wang Jie.

Singer of For Every Day

For Every Day was formed in the summer of 2005 by neighborhood friends Tyler Gray, Alex Neal, my younger brother Nicholas, and me. We were heavily influenced by the radio rock of the time, and bands like Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace, Switchfoot, and Disturbed were often sources of inspiration. Early on, we had the advantage of each having supportive families that would take us to and from gigs before any of us could legally drive. The late-2000s were a tumultuous time for the music industry, but for independent rock bands of that era, it meant that there were far fewer labels willing to invest in artist development. Nevertheless, we managed to connect with other artists and industry professionals who helped us along.

After several years of gigging and recording EPs, we partnered with a manager from Union Entertainment Group and were being shopped to various record labels. In 2011 we had the opportunity to co-write with Red songwriter and guitarist Jasen Rauch, who would go on to become a member of Breaking Benjamin and co-write with Ben Burnley. However, around this time, the band began to fracture as members struggled with the decision of whether to pursue music or further their education.

Ultimately, For Every Day produced one final album The Great Unknown, before unofficially disbanding in 2012.

However, as of 2024, the project was somewhat revived, with my brother and I reuniting to release a new single, Afterglow, along with a collection of previously unreleased songs as part of an EP titled Unearthed . These new songs are available along with most of For Every Day’s catalogue on every major streaming service.

Creating Audio Dramas

I have long wished to create my own piece of gesamtkunstwerk or “total art”. For years I’ve kept a journal of various stories I’ve invented which I one day hoped to realize in one form or another—imagining my music would always play some part in the production. As a composer I’ve perhaps implicitly been telling stories for some time, but through my exploration of the unique medium of audio dramas, or “radio plays”, I’ve found I can communicate the stories I’ve devised while utilizing my voice not only as a musician but also as a vocalist.

As I’ve grown into a more spiritual and traditionally-minded individual, I’ve come to better appreciate the charm of innocent stories that celebrate virtues like honor and self-sacrifice. This is why I decided to create a work where such values were clearly depicted, using an Arthurian myth as the starting point.

Drawing on the skills I’ve honed as a composer and sound engineer, my aim is to produce original audio dramas that can be enjoyed by listeners of all ages. This work is consciously reminiscent of the popular American radio dramas of the 1940s, yet made with modern distribution methods like streaming in mind.