This is my story, written by me...a guy who doesn't usually write things like this....It's not ment to take the place of a "Professional Bio". If you are looking for the bio that came
from a real writer (publicist), it's on the "press kit" page. This is just a little insight to where I came from.

I was born on November 14 1976. It happened in an old house, out in the woods of western Washington. My parents were living the "hippie" life. Living in the woods, no "real"
jobs, growing weed….the usual anti-establishment bullshit. My dad delivered me. No doctors around. According to him, he weighed me on a scale that was normally used to
measure out his pot and a few hours after I was born they got hungry and went to eat at a local Chinese food joint. They just brought me along. They split the sheets a couple
of years later….I grew up with my dad.

That house that I was born in burnt down when I was four or five. We started to move…

We moved around a lot…. Two different schools for kindergarten, Shelton, WA for first grade, Rainier for 2nd, Bremerton for 3rd, Bellvue for 4th, Rainier again for 5th, 6th, 7th,
8th. Blah….Blah….That's what's wrong with me….we moved a lot….whatever.

When I was in sixth grade I got a guitar. It was a JC Penny's Harmony Les Paul copy. It had a grey and black sunburst. It was cool as hell. I originally got it for the age old
reason of scoring chicks. It didn't work…mostly because the god-damn thing was hard to play. I also didn't have much patience at that time…still don't. I had no idea that it
would be so difficult to learn. It sat in the closet most of the time. It sat in the closet for a long time. I dinked around on it a little but it wasn't until I moved to Alaska that I
started to spend more time playing.

My dad moved to Alaska for work when I was 12 or 13. I would spend the summers up there with him. We were pretty far away from everything. I remember being pretty bored
there. Too young to drive….too far away to walk anywhere. All was well though. Hell, I was in Alaska…that alone made me the coolest kid in school.

We finally moved up there for good in '90 or '91. When we first moved there I didn't know a soul and we lived 20 miles outside of town. My room was an old walk in freezer
trailer…witch might sound a little weird but it was all we had at the time. I later moved into a little 15ft travel trailer that I had all to myself. I used to come home from school and
just sit around a try to figure the damned guitar out. I never really practiced in the traditional sense. Like I said earlier…don't have the patience for practicing. I was only playing
electric guitar at the time and I would learn intros and guitar solos to my favorite songs. Mostly Guns 'n Roses and Metallica songs. I was listening to and trying to learn quite a
few Beatles songs back then also. I didn't listen to country music when I was younger. I can't remember if I didn't like country because it wasn't cool or if I just didn't get it but I
just wasn't listening to any. I finished out my school days in Kodiak, AK. I still didn't really know how to play the guitar….never took the time. It frustrates the living shit out of
me.

I did not come from a musical family. I don't even remember music being played around the house when I was growing up. I'm not saying that it wasn't, I just don't remember. I
always have music playing in my house now. There is too much great music out there to just sit and listen to nothing.

I remember the first time I heard Garth Brooks. I was laying in bed during my eighth grade year. I used to listen to the radio instead of going to sleep. I had no idea why I was
listening to a country station that night and I sure as hell didn't know who Garth Brooks was. But the song that I heard that night that night kicked my ass. It was "The Thunder
Rolls". I was sold. I started to listen to more country…a lot more. Mostly the radio. But it was good. Clint Black, Travis Tritt, Garth, Joe Diffe, Alabama….They were all really
big at that time. I think it was a great time to be introduced to that type of music. I didn't grow up with country. I got to discover it.

When I was 14 or 15 I saw Garth Brooks live in Oakland CA. It changed my fucking life. I know that sounds gay as hell but its true. There was a portion of his show where he
came out with just an acoustic guitar. He just sat there and played a couple of songs. Just him and a guitar. No band. He didn't jump around and swing off of the rafters like he
is known for. He just sat there…a guy and his guitar…and tore the fucking roof off the place. 20,000 people stopped breathing and just listened. I'd never seen anything like it.
Haven't really seen anything like it since. That night I saw what music could do when it was done right. It didn't have to be loud, it didn't need to have drums and bass and
electric guitars and amplifiers. If you could sit on stage and be sincere and honest with the music then you didn't need anything else. It wasn't a one time fluke either. Every
time I saw or heard Garth play by himself it was always the same thing. That fucking guy can deliver the goods. Best I've ever seen. I know it ain't cool to be into Garth Brooks
these days but I don't care. I'm a Garth Brooks wanna-be.

After seeing Garth I picked up an acoustic somewhere. I can't remember where. But it was ok. I never really been interested in playing the electric guitar since.

I didn't sing until I was in college. I was horrible when I started. Really bad. But I kept at it and got better. I listened to what I was doing. If it didn't sound good I didn't try to tell
myself that it did. I worked on fixing it and making it sound ok. Once I got better at singing I had to work on the delivery. There is no secret formula for that. I have seen great
singers doing their thing and nobody gives a shit. They either aren't being honest or they don't care or something. What ever it is, it doesn't work and no matter how good their
singing technique is, it never will work. It doesn't matter how good of a singer you are, if you can't make them believe you, if your are not sincere then nobody will care. Then
there are the people out there who can't sing worth a damn, technically speaking, but you cant take your eyes off of them. They grab you by the chest and squeeze the air out
of you. Townes Van Zandt could do that. Kris Kristofferson can to. That's why they are considered two of the best that ever lived. They couldn't sing to save their lives…in
technical terms, but they could stop you in your tracks and knock the wind out of you when they delivered the goods. There aren't too many of these types left but they are out
there if you look for them.

That's what music is to me. That's all I'm trying to do.

I left Alaska in the winter of 2007. Now I live in Austin and I swear to god that I'm gonna make this thing work.


Be safe,

Jody Mills
December 20, 2009
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska