~ WRITING ~

some published writing:

Since ~2018 I’ve maintained a mostly weekly newsletter called My Big Break - it’s something like a public diary, something like the world’s longest memoir, something like a LiveJournal page, and now I do interviews, too. You can subscribe + read the archives here.

Slate January ‘23: Hail, Hail the Mini Chili Dogs of Upstate New York!

Slate Sept ‘22: Hold Hard the Tap Handle

Tiny Showcase: Summer ‘22 - a commissioned multimedia work featuring music + writing

In 2017 the artist Jordan Knecht compiled and published a beautifully risographed chapbook of my writings from and about a fateful trip to Italy - the collection includes poetry, the lengthy Tumblr post I made on my return, and unedited sections of my actual private journal. Check it out here (there’s even an audiobook version).

In an unusual creative process, I wrote the libretto for the composer Brooks Frederickson’s “Song Cycle,” collected here as part of the album Small Works - over a period of about six months I would spontaneously text Brooks various loose fragments of poetry and he set them to music at his discretion

music bios / press releases:

I’ve helped a lot of people figure out how to talk about their upcoming music in what is sometimes called an “album bio” and sometimes called a “press release” - essentially, through listening to the music and speaking with the artist, I’m able to evocatively synthesize the world of the record into something enticing and legible.

I typically charge ~$300 for ~850 words, including two full rounds of revisions. Price can vary depending on timeline and specific needs (and I’m also happy to work on a barter / sliding scale basis if appropriate).

Here’s a selection of writing I’ve done for other people’s music projects:

Selected writing on / for / about music:

• Andrew Rowan & Steven Van Betten “Cloud Behind the Sun”

• John Thayer “Winds Gate”

• Will Stratton “Points of Origin”

• James Felice “the Little Ones”

• Torvvo “Substratum”

• Sinai Vessel “I Sing”

• Andrew Rowan “Natural History Study”

•  JPW “Something Happening / Always Happening”

• Quigley “Strange Gain”

• Brian John McBrearty “Beginning Again”

Other clients / labels include Dan Langa, Switch Hit Records, Dallas Ugly, Gregory Uhlmann, Northern Spy, Going In, Colorfield Records, Malick Koly, Aural Canyon, Keeled Scales, Oxtail Recordings, the Bunker, Bella Union

I’ve also done other types of for-hire work including general copy writing, grant writing, promotional emails, etc.