I've been writing songs.

Here's one I can share.

For years I’ve written song lyrics.

It’s a form of poetry, truly one of my favorite mediums of creative expression.

I used to write raps in my twenties.

Then later came indie.

But ever since one evening at The Listening Room Cafe in Nashville a couple years ago, I like writing country songs.

So did my uncle.

He died at the age of 32, when I was still a boy.

For a long time, somewhere in the recesses of my brain, I thought I was doing to die then too.

The less similarities between us, the better, I thought. So I never entertained country songwriting, as if doing so would usher in an early death.

When I lived past the age of 32, a weight lifted.

I gradually felt free to be more like him. Free to be more like me.

Recently I’m embracing the part of myself that is very much a country songwriter.

I like taking an experience, a concept, or a simple observation and building a song around it. I’ve written six in the past few weeks.

I recently joined the Nashville Songwriters Association, an organization my uncle also belonged to. I’ve made demos of several of my songs and have plans to get them in front of artists and industry decision-makers in the coming months.

Here is one song I won’t be pitching. It’s different from the rest.

More indie than country. A bit melancholic.

Simple.

And it doesn’t feel like it’s someone else’s song.

So it’s for me. For us.

It’s called “Bonticou,” and it’s about the void that’s felt when you go to a familiar place without a familiar face.

It’s about love that lingers after it has ended, and how certain places and activities carry frequencies that connect us to someone else regardless of physical proximity.

I hope you enjoy “Bonticou.”