Roots & Ruins

A song about the first tastes of freedom, heartbreak, and becoming yourself at fifteen.

I’ve always believed you can love where you come from without wanting to stay there forever.

Roots & Ruins is about that complicated relationship we all have with home. My roots are in Watseka. That’s where I learned to play guitar, where Nana and Pop raised me, where I first started writing songs, and where I learned what love, loyalty and hard work looked like. I wouldn’t be the person I am without that place.

But every place has its ruins too.

For me, those were the memories of people leaving, promises that weren’t always kept, and the feeling that if I stayed too long, my own dreams might quietly disappear. Loving a place doesn’t mean pretending it was perfect.

That’s really what the song is about—accepting that both things can be true at the same time. You can be grateful for the people who shaped you while also recognising the parts of your past that you needed to leave behind. One doesn’t cancel out the other.

I think Nana and Pop are at the heart of this song. They gave me the roots that let me grow into myself. Even when I left home, I never felt like I was leaving them behind. They taught me that your roots aren’t there to keep you in one place. They’re there to give you the strength to keep growing, wherever life takes you.

I think everyone has their own version of Roots & Ruins. It’s that place you still think about when someone asks where you’re from. The place that made you, challenged you, frustrated you and loved you all at once.

To me, this song is about finally making peace with the idea that our past is never just one thing. It’s made up of beautiful memories and broken ones, roots and ruins. And somehow, together, they become home.