Introducing New York, California - the record behind the American Dream.
I have a new band, I have a new album. As the planets align, I enter a new sophomore album cycle.
Introducing New York, California - the record behind my American Dream.
It all started during the pandemic, in 2020, under the tyranny of Trump. I was locked in my tiny studio apartment on the border of Silver Lake and Rampart Village, Los Angeles, staring out at the Hollywood sign. Outside, gunshots echoed from the Black Lives Matter protests, the pandemic raged, and the borders were shut, misogyny and hate speech were on the rise. I spent hours writing, channelling political rage and my first steps into social science studies into songs, slide guitar in hand.
I thought about how women’s sexuality has been oppressed as I studied gender roles, sexuality, religion, and the crusts of society. And like all good investments, the songs born from that time couldn’t have arrived at a more fitting moment - 2025. Another term of Trump 2.0, project 2025 stripping rights, Nazi salutes at the inauguration, followed by gas lighting, and death penalties for women. This week, I thought: Hell, I’m glad I wrote songs with lyrics that hold so much women’s liberation. The music is commercial, it’s country, it’s sexy, it’s Americana, it's the desert, it’s the city. it’s an album of American dreams. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be born until we entered this dark period of history repeating itself.
“The Devil’s Holdin’ the Bible”
I wrote a song in an open E slide called “The Devil’s Holdin’ the Bible” about that moment—when a president tear-gassed Black Lives Matter protesters just to cross the street and pose with a Bible, pushing his version of peace while fueling white nationalist riots. Four years later, he can’t even put his hand on the Bible while being sworn into his second term. The weight of that era has taken a new turn. It’s glaringly obvious we’re now in an era of Nazi nationalists, with history’s patterns repeating themselves.
We’ve got the devil holdin’ the bible, sayin’ ‘make America great again’, we’ve got the devil holdin’ the bible, and now he’s the president.