Burning Barns & Bridges

My goodbye letter to Watseka. This record is rebellion and relief holding hands - me choosing the risky road out of the hometown that kept me small, while honoring the people and places that built me. It's barns smoking on the horizon and bridges falling quiet behind me.

I Run The Red - The first time I realized I couldn't keep living like a ghost, I wrote this. My mom used to say "keep your head down," but I was suffocating under that advice. I'd rather risk a wreck than erase myself.

Backseat Reverie - Fogged windows, busted speakers, someone's denim on my shoulder - first love as a haunt. It's the memory that keeps driving even when the car is long gone.

Dust Don't Lie - You can paint the walls and move the couch, but dust remembers. This is about family secrets, the whispered things and the silences that shout louder than words.

Gravel & Gold - I was tired of apologizing for my rough edges. This is a permission slip to myself: I'm chipped, I'm cracked, and I'm still worth something.

This Ain't My First Rodeo - Bar nights taught me how to set boundaries without shrinking. It's half-joke, half-armor - practice saying "no" until it comes out clean.

Hold Your Horses - I wanted a love song that breathes. It's me telling both of us to slow down, build trust, and let care be sexy. Boundaries aren't walls; they're steady hands.

Barbed Wire Kisses - Some attractions are magnets with teeth. Sweet until you're bleeding. I didn't write a villain into this, just the honesty of touching something you know can cut.

Roots & Ruins - Standing on Pop's porch, I could feel what I'd inherited - habits, hurts, stubborn resilience. This song is me sorting the box: what stays, what ends with me.

My Father's Voice - My dad wasn't around much when I was little, but his absence had a shape. We're good now, he shows up for real. This is me reaching through the years to ask what I carried from him without even knowing.

Blood & Bone - I wrote this as a kind of love letter to my sister Mila. She is the most important person in the world for me and I love her to the moon and back.

Lipstick & Leather - Armor can look like red lipstick and thrifted boots. Some days it's playful; some days it's protection. Either way, it's me walking into a room like I belong.

Goodbye Watseka - The hardest track to write. Leaving with dignity means loving what was good even while you go. This is the porch-light goodbye.