God found me when I was at my lowest point. That was the first time in my life when I really felt like I understood who Jesus was - it was more than just knowing about Him: I felt like He met me in that time and place.

When I set out to write, I want to write something that will rip your heart out and connect with you. Great songs connect beyond genre and style.

My songs have a layer of melancholy.

I was an English major, and I always wrote poems.

I grew up in Oregon, so there was always a lot of that folksy, Bob Marley stuff. There was a mural of Bob Marley on a wall at my high school.

I never got too specialized but did like the Southern Gothic writers like William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.

When I started forming my own taste, there was a period in high school when I listened to only rap and hip-hop, like A Tribe Called Quest.

I never wanted to be on an exclusively Christian label.

I'm really influenced by '90s hip hop. A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul were my heroes growing up.