JOEL ANSETT

I was born and raised in Spokane, WA and I first started writing songs in the family living room with my sister. It has been a treasured pursuit of mine ever since then. Once I graduated high school, I headed east to Grove City College to study History. As graduation approached I had the choice to look for a job in my field or take a bit of a leap and pursue songwriting as a career. I chose the latter and that leap of faith was met with a successfully funded and recorded debut EP entitled The Living Room. The response to those songs from family, friends, and new fans was enough to convince me to continue pursuing music as a career.

In 2014 my wife and I moved to Colorado and I began work on my first full-length album. It was successfully crowdfunded and released in November of 2015. Since its release I have independently toured the country, playing colleges, house shows, and small venues. A few songs from that record went on to win songwriting awards. A growing family has certainly made this career choice a riskier one. Even in the last year, my wife and I have had very honest and frank discussions about songwriting as a career. But the more we sit back and look at the big picture, the more courage we have to continue, regardless of how impractical it may be.

To hear from fans about the way these songs have spoken to them has been one of the most beautiful and humbling experiences of our lives; and it has confirmed our belief that we are part of a story much bigger than ourselves. The pendulum swinging towards doubt has actually allowed us the momentum to re-commit to this career with more focus and vigor than we've ever had; and this kickstarter campaign is where the momentum has taken us. As long as am I able, I am going to keep writing songs with the goal of connecting us all to the bigger story.