Three years ago the universe nudged the compass of my life south toward a small mountain town called Floyd, Virginia.
Before that I had been wandering the wild Pacific edge of the continent—five years of van life on the Oregon coast, chasing fog, redwoods, and the long breathing of the sea. But the road bends in ways the map never explains. My companion Panda felt called to explore other paths, and the great river of our shared journey split into two channels.
For a time I found myself alone again in the hills of Pennsylvania, listening to the quiet.
Then the signal came.
Somewhere between fate and gravity, the universe pointed me toward the Republic of Floyd—that strange little creative outpost in the Blue Ridge where music leaks out of every doorway and the air feels charged with stories waiting to be sung.
Floyd has its own frequency.
And when I arrived, the songs started arriving with me.
Every piece of music I’m producing now was written during that year in Floyd. They were born from heartbreak, transformation, long walks through mountain dusk, and the slow alchemy of turning sorrow into sound.
Instead of collapsing into the silence of loss, I chose to move the energy.
To write.
To sing.
To let the current of feeling become melody.
You can hear many of these songs on my YouTube channel BearzOfficial, where I share the evolving soundtrack of this journey.
Originally I had planned to record a full album there in Floyd. That possibility still hums on the horizon, and the road may yet circle back there this summer.
For now I’m back in the Keystone State, pursuing what I call my creative sanity—the sacred practice of making art from the raw materials of living.
The songs carry the spirit of Floyd.
The ache of separation.
The strange grace of transformation.
They are signals from that chapter of the Bearz journey.
And the creative river keeps flowing.
I also just renewed the hosting for my website, where I’ll be opening up a small creative outpost—offering unique photographic prints and Bearz designs on 100% cotton hoodies and tees.
Little artifacts from the road.
Signals from the Bearz Den.
Keep checking in…
new things will be appearing there soon.
Because the story isn’t finished.
Not even close.
🐻
Bearz
Bear Your Heart