Reflections on my upbringing, fatherhood, and trying to be a better person.
It’s Christmas Eve, and you’re about seven or eight. Your family has this tradition of opening gifts on the night before Christmas. You’re pretty sure the reason is to convince your young brain that there’s no Santa Claus. How could there be? It’s 9 PM. He hasn’t even hooked up his sleigh yet. Furthermore, your […]
An Espe Christmas Eve Read More »
I am six years old and a member of the Old Dutch Potato Chips hockey team. We have orange jerseys with big white letters. Aaron Degerness is our star player. Saturday mornings are game days and this particular morning the stars align: I catch the puck and begin a long breakaway the length of the
The Breakaway: A Hockey Story Read More »
I know the lyrics to “Take Me Home, Country Roads” are about West Virginia, the Blue Ridge Mountains and all. But last year, when my wife and I hauled our family around the Midwest in a camper for my Living Room Tour, I took a wrong turn near the Montana/North Dakota border. Though we tried
Happy Accidents: Where This Picture Came From Read More »
I was at the age when all your friends start getting married. It seemed as if every other month I was performing “I Will Be Here” by Steven Curtis Chapman, while a bride and groom lit the unity candle. Their pacing always much faster than rehearsed due to nerves and the unnatural activity of lighting
Confessions of an Extremely Moderately Successful Singer-Songwriter Read More »
From the album, Up North (2023) Spotify | Apple Music About This Song Every summer, starting in third grade, you attend a sleepover camp. It’s about three and a half hours from your town. A church camp. You go with your church friends and some non-church friends who’ve been lured in based promises of waterskiing,
[#014] Behind the Music A-Z: “Bluewater Summer Camp” Read More »
Most attendees at the Aster Cafe in Minneapolis that night likely thought it was a drunk, oblivious stranger passing by. They weren’t far off. It was my slightly inebriated cousin Erik, doing a dare by his likely much more sober brother Karl. They were only sorry that the shenanigans just so happened to be during
How My Cousins Pranked Me at My Own Concert Read More »
You might think the best day of my life would be the day I got married or the birth of any of my kids. You might even think it was the day I signed my first publishing deal or recording contract. Don’t get me wrong, those days were fine and everything. But they simply cannot
The Best Day of My Life Read More »
From the album Passages (2017) Spotify | Apple Music | Youtube | CD | Vinyl I remember standing in my backyard after the phone call, trying to figure out what to say to my wife. We had two young kids, and suddenly, I felt extremely foolish for pursuing a career as a songwriter. How could
[#009] Behind the Music A-Z: “Be There Soon” Read More »
In this week’s issue I share…
1) Beginning Guitar: A Hack for Building Calluses
2) Patron Perks: Livestream Replay
3) On Songwriting: What to Put In and Leave Out of Your Song
3 on Thursday – 4/20/23 Read More »
In this week’s issue I share…
1) A Trick for Singing in Tune (with stage fright)
2) Forgiveness_MIX6: New Secret Song for Patrons Performance
3) On Songwriting: Let People Put You in a Box
3 on Thursday – 4/13/23 Read More »