Hidden Drive

A Hidden Drive is a path in life that you never see yourself walking down, but somehow, God leads you there still. At the end of this Hidden Drive we found each other, a love for music, and the desire to share our heart songs. We have discovered something so much greater than the music we make together. We have discovered a purpose in our music- to reach souls for Christ. Though there are a few years that separate us, we have been able to use this to our advantage. We each bring a different perspective and flavor to song writing and performance while also being able to reach a variety of audiences. God has brought us together for a reason and has placed the tools in our hands to do his work and glorify His name. We are taking this opportunity to do just that. We are two very quiet and subdued individuals, so this Hidden Drive was definitely not somewhere we saw ourselves going. It is amazing how God pulls us out of our shells at times and says, “Yes, you can do this”. But we weren’t alone in the journey. Together, we helped each other venture out into the spotlight not really knowing what to expect. The spotlight is a place for only the courageous, and we had to help each other overcome our fears. After a few performances, we each experienced a personal victory in the battle with fear, and with victory came huge rewards. God’s word was being proclaimed through our words, by our lips, and even through our guitar chords. What a privilege and a blessing. This Hidden Drive also represents the road less traveled on, which as Christians, are called to travel through life’s journey. Not many find it and others choose the easy, more traveled road. Through our music, our hope is that more would consider the path less taken or the “Hidden Drive” to live a life pleasing to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Our story starts back in the summer of 2006. I have two very close friends who just happen to be the cousins of Mike. One night, these two friends invited me over to his house for a small get together. They knew I could sing and that Mike could play the guitar so they suggested we pick a song to perform together. “God Bless the Broken Road” became the first song that we performed together and while playing it, I think we were both blown away. Despite just meeting each other and never practicing together, the song flowed and sounded pretty good! A few days later, I received an email from Mike, asking me to continue working with him and his guitar. Practices soon ensued and original songs began to take shape.

As we have grown as friends and musicians, we’ve discovered some pretty incredible commonalities. Along with our shared faith in Jesus Christ, stories from our past are uniquely similar including everything from our family life, moral dilemmas, and the challenges we each have faced in our personal lives. Our personalities appear to be identical at times as if we could read each other’s minds. We have often thought that if we were the same age and reversed gender roles, we could easily pass as each other’s twin. So, it is not very surprising that we have another common ground, which ultimately brought us together.

We will never forget our first performance together. It was actually at a retirement home. We met in a room just before going out, and can still remember the butterflies and the look of terror on each other’s faces. What the heck were we getting ourselves into? Was this really what it felt like? Like our hearts had dropped into our stomachs! We said a quick prayer, wished each other luck, and took a leap of faith that night. With each song, our nerves subsided some, and we then discovered a brand new love in life- the love of song. We continued on with more shows, most of them being at coffee shops and church events. We seemed to be getting quite a response, especially from our originals. We were invited to perform on a local television program, which was later aired throughout various parts of the country. This led to other avenues including Internet radio and various independent stations showing an interest in our music. We continue to get the most responses from our original music. Our first original was “Think of Me” which tells of a love story and still seems to be a favorite. Next came “Laugh with Me”, which reminisces my memories with my friends during my high school years followed by “Finish Line” which is a runner’s prayer, being that I am a college athlete on Malone College’s track team. These originals were put onto a demo CD where they await to be discovered.

While looking back at our journey together, a specific performance comes to mind. I was running late that night after a hectic day of college classes, track practice in the late afternoon, and I remember racing home in a mad frenzy to shower and then off to the church for a concert we were scheduled for. My head was spinning by the time I got ther