3 on Thursday Newsletter
The latest from singer-songwriter Aaron Espe delivered to your inbox each Thursday.
Sharing music, stories behind the songs, home-recording and songwriting tips, plus the occasional watercolor painting.
What I’m Really Like
Truth is, most days you’ll find me being a dad to four boys (Silas 11, August 9, Lorentz 6, and Magnus 3) and a husband to an amazing, beautiful woman named Heidi. We live in a red brick house in Nashville, TN on the east side of the Cumberland River. In the summers we grow a huge garden. Every Friday we buy four Hot-N-Ready pizzas from Little Caesar’s. I manage to overeat every, single, time.
I was an English Major in college, but I’m still two Spanish courses short of my degree. (Read that sentence again if you missed the irony the first time.) I dropped out to try and “make it” in music. Hard to believe now that was in 2004.
Along the way I gigged all over the world, playing wherever I could. At one point I learned to tune pianos to help supplement my income.
The midwesterner in me doesn’t love to admit this, but I’ve had a longstanding battle with severe anxiety and depression. I grew up thinking that you weren’t even supposed to believe in mental illness let alone get professional help for it. But in 2009 mine got really bad. I’ll forever be grateful to my first therapist and psychiatrist for breaking the mental illness myth I’d believed for so long. But I also realized I had to completely rethink my music career as a touring artist.
It wasn’t until Heidi and I moved to Nashville, Tennessee that I found my stride as singer-songwriter and producer, signing with a great publisher here in town. I also signed with a record label based out of Vancouver for my artist releases.
I started my 3 on Thursday newsletter for you—the folks who find meaning in my work and have helped me sustain a career. My hope is to add a little joy to your week, whether that’s by sharing new music, tips on songwriting and production, or—this might sound random—but the occasional watercolor.
Love,
Aaron