"I’ve grown appreciative of hitting the bottom and stand there glaring into the darkness. It’s what allows you to see the light again."

Do you find that people are able to relate to your lyrics, even though they present your very personal, subjective experiences?

It’s something that I’ve struggled with. The last record of mine, I Know What Love Isn’t, was very difficult to write. The songs were very personal and I wasn’t sure if anyone would be able to relate to them. I went on tour with it and it was horrible. I felt that the audience was just waiting for me to play the old songs.

I buried that record and moved on, but I felt bad about it. Then I started doing some new shows last fall and I played two or three songs from that last record. People sang along to every single line. I had mistakenly interpreted it as people not liking my music rather than realizing that the record was slow music; it needs time to gro...