"Gone" is one of my favorite songs on the album. It connects with me in so many ways and can be interpreted in different ways depending on the listener's particular life experience.

I wrote "Gone" with Raquel Warchol (a young Canadian chick who can flat out play & sing) on the evening of April 23, 2012. We were writing at the management company Raquel is signed with, which just so happens to be on the top level of a building on West End Ave. in Nashville. The room we wrote it in has all glass windows overlooking the city. Can you say INSPIRATION!?!? We've written our best songs in this room.

We'd been writing for well over an hour with no luck, and when we started on this idea, the hook just fell out. I didn't know what it meant when I blurted out the line "It feels so good, but it sounds so wrong, My life is better now that you are gone." It could mean so many different things....and that's what I loved about it. Yes, a broken relationship, but also friendships gone sour, parental difficulties, sibling rivalry, and job/boss issues could be relative.

In my personal life, there are only a few people that I would say this about....but sometimes when you realize you are better off because something went awry in your life, it's reassuring. And lessons are learned, character is built, and hopefully the benefits outweigh the heartache.

Raquel had the guitar lick going and we worked for about an hour on the lyrics and melody. Based on typical co-writes, this song was written fairly quickly from start to finish. Plus, it was getting late and we were both tired, but we were both really happy!

When I was considering this for the album, I knew I wanted to re-write some of the lyrics, so I replaced the first verse and tweaked the other verses. Raquel only visits Nashville a few times a year....so I rolled solo on the editing and was really happy with how it turned out.