I am 19 years old and was raised in Durango, Colorado. When I picked up my first pair of drum sticks. COVID was in its peak and I was very bored with video games and was starting to find myself in a hole getting ever so deeper. Drums was like the ladder. I found myself climbing up into a world that was very confused with what just happened. I mean some of us didn’t leave our house for months (myself included), and in that time we picked up a few things.

By the time COVID had ended I was at Animas High School, a public charter where I spent the 3 most impactful years of my life at. It was there where I met my music teachers Tedd Moore, Jesse Ogle, Guillaume Metz and Jay Harootunian. Tedd being my primary instructor on drums. Through their teachings I gained the tools to create and share meaningful, beautiful work along side other student artists like for example Jude Monroe.

My friend Desmond Tsosie aka “Jude Monroe” is a great performer and talented musician here in Durango. He was also one of my closest friends during high school and a big reason why I am at the place I am musically. We where always playing together just bouncing off of each others ideas like a ping pong ball, we did these jams every lunch and sometimes even afterschool and it was because of these jams that I felt that the life of a musician is what I want. It’s like playing music is a high that I can’t get anywhere else and I’m hooked. We both felt this way and in a very bold and eager fashion we decided together to throw a 2 day music festival to give back to the music community for all they had done for us. This was for our “Senior year Project” which was centered around community. We planned everything, using our experiences playing live and recording, from the most smallest detail to the whole venue. It was perfect and we couldn’t have asked for a better turnout. All of our teachers played and we actually got some profit from it which was surprising to both of us.

I now currently reside in Durango. As a professional musician in the four corners scene I feel truly honored and humbled to be playing in an ever growing scene. What makes it so unique is how small but mighty it is. You can literally go out on a Friday night and listen to 3 or 4 different genres of live music just in downtown Durango. Another reason being most musicians here support and appreciate each other, we are always wanting to push the boundaries of musical creativity, sharing ideas like a ping pong ball.