I was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. A town in love with songs, that calls itself Music City. Thus I was inevitably brought up with music all around. Hank Williams and Patsy Cline and the like seeping into my subconscious, singing of things I yet could understand, except that they felt like home.
I found music, though, in my back yard, much like you might find it anywhere else if you listen for it. I was always fascinated with the waking and sleeping sounds outside my door. The melodious mockingbirds and percussive woodpeckers accompanying me during the long, sweet, Southern summer days filled with adventure. The silent symphony of the setting sun breaking its golden light through the tall standing trees over the hill, and casting the taller shadows across our front yard to sleep. And the magical sounds of crickets that played and owls that sang as we chased and collected the lightening bugs into mason jars on summer nights.
Music was all around.
I realized it was music for me when I finished my first song at fourteen. It was titled, “Mockingbird,†and was written in response to Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, instead of the paper I was suppose to write for my freshman year English class. I was always making up songs on guitar or piano before, all through my childhood, and in response to different things, but it was then when I wrote that song and presented it to my classmates that I woke up and realized. Kinda like when you meet Jesus.
I have been writing songs ever sense.
I write my songs by myself. I play most of my shows with my band. And I still live in Nashville, Tennessee.
In May 2009, I finished recording an ep titled, Envy The Moon, which I began working on in August 2008. Though it has not yet been released to the general public in a tangible form, the songs from the ep are featured above for your listening pleasure. I hope that you enjoy.
"Aching, elegant indie-folk that echoes early Rufus Wainwright with its crawling pace and Manuel's glassy, slurred vocals."
- Dave Paulson, Nashville Rage Magazine
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