I grew up in a working-class family, born in Peace River, Alberta, and raised in Nanaimo. Music wasn’t really on my radar early on — I was into rap like Eminem and Swollen Members as a kid. At 17, I left high school and moved to Kamloops to work on the Trans Mountain Pipeline, 12 hours a day 6 days a week. My brother turned me onto Johnny Cash, and I fell hard for Tyler Childers’ raw voice. That’s when I started singing, just for kicks, posting rough covers on Reddit from my couch. In 2022, an American Idol exec saw one of those videos and hit me up. I auditioned, did a backflip for the judges, and made it to the Top 20. Getting cut lit a fire in me. That summer, I learned guitar, took vocal lessons, and went all in on music. By 2023, I dropped my first single, “Shoot Me Dead,” signed with Atlantic in 2024, and released my debut EP, Quitter. Now I’m touring, playing sold-out shows, and living a dream I never saw coming.

I get this question a lot, and to tell you the truth I’m still figuring it out. I think the most important thing for me is just writing music that’s 100% honest and vulnerable — a trait I learned from the past 2 years of my recovery/sobriety. My music changes constantly as have I over the past 2-3 years and I think it’ll just keep changing. But whatever kind of music I make I promise it’ll never be boring.

I pull from a lot of places. Tyler Childers is huge — his storytelling and gritty voice hit me deep. Johnny Cash’s way of baring his soul is a big inspiration. I grew up on rap, so Eminem’s clever, raw lyrics shaped how I approach words. Swollen Members, a Vancouver rap group, were my jam as a kid. Kurt Cobain’s fearless vibe with Nirvana, even if it’s not country, pushes me to say what I mean. And I dig how Post Malone blends genres without caring what anyone thinks. Those voices guide me to keep my music honest and bold.

Personally nowadays it feels like no matter what you do, someone’s gonna tell you it’s bad for you. You can’t eat peanut butter cause it causes cancer. Coffee’s not good for you, you should exercise but don’t exercise too much. Nicotine, drugs, alcohol, all big killers but why do all these things that feel so great have to be so terrible for you?