I started touring in 1999. By 2002 I had quit my day jobs and committed to life on the road, playing shows for at least seven months a year from that point forward. With the exception of a few tours opening up for friends˜Kimya Dawson, Tilly and the Wall, David Dondero, Mount Eerie˜I have booked every show myself. There have been weirdly long tours, like the time I was out for five months straight. There have been awesomely non-traditional tours, too, like the one I did on bicycle around New England. And there have been wonderfully specific ones, like my State Series: I‚ve done tours exclusive to Florida and New Jersey at this point, and North Dakota is in the works. This is not a joke. It‚s been slow going, without a booking agent or any real stand-out press, but˜at the same time˜it‚s exciting to realize that everything has been on my own terms, and essentially of my own doing. Some of the best friends I‚ve made over the last eight years have come out of dealing directly with the wonderful, inspiring people setting up shows in living rooms, basements, art spaces, all-ages clubs and youth centers across the country. I feel that by keeping it simple, everyone I meet on the road is a friend first and fan second. There is no line between the two, and that makes me so happy. This has been a real life-changing adventure, and whether there are five people or fifty people at the show itself, I give it everything I've got, night after night. I feel so lucky to be doing what I love.