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Being a performing songwriter that self-releases albums is a totally different planet, though. Light
years away from just singing and performing. And yes, I have to constantly work at that, too.

LL: Did you study music, or are you self-taught?

QE: I don’t think of myself as self-taught. I didn’t go to music school and study music formally in
college. I did attend a performing arts high school in Atlanta and while I was there, I studied
classical music formally and sang in chorales. I played instruments in grade school. I learned
enough music theory to get in trouble -- or stay out of it, depending on who you ask.

I think that everyone learns differently, and it’s taken me a long time to figure out how I learn best

and the best way to absorb what I need when I need it, and to not be too impatient with myself.
Every project presents its own set of problems and as I finish
one idea, I realize that I’ve developed muscles I didn’t know I
needed. That new level of know-how equips me to deal with the
next project, the next album, the next song cycle, the next
creative venture, and I stay out of my comfort zone, I keep
reaching further than I can ever hope to grasp, so I keep

growing.

I probably would have gone to graduate school if I had the
money, but New York City really squeezes it out of you, if
you’re on your own financially. The necessary business of
paying the rent kept those options away from me. And in a
place like New York City, there was always an opportunity that
swept me off my feet.

LL: How about your time in New York? What brought you
there, and what are all the creative avenues you’ve pursued

there?

QE: I wanted to be a theatre actor and I didn’t know how to
drive. It was as simple as that. I didn’t think that I was pretty
enough to do film or television. All I wanted was to be in the chorus of a Broadway show. I will
always be forever grateful that I didn’t get what I wanted.

I saw a John Leguizamo one-person show at American Place Theatre and thought, I can do that. So,
I did. And off I went, into alt-theatre. And that was that.

My time in New York City has meant that I have consistently been living outside of my comfort

zone creatively. There hasn’t ever been a moment where I wasn’t dancing on the head of a pin. The
city itself kept me off balance. Because I insisted on working with people who were way better at
everything than I was, I was constantly having to reach farther than anything I thought I was
capable of. And that is how I grew exponentially. I still live this way, pretty much. All of this is
compounded by the fact that everything was so expensive, that I never had enough money to do
anything, so I had to finesse it somehow, that everyone was constantly punching down and because
I wasn’t from Brooklyn or whatever, I had no safe harbour with any of those Yankees. They treated

me like an interloper and let me know in no uncertain terms that I didn’t belong there. I didn’t
care. I knew that I was lucky enough to not be like anyone else, and that was my superpower.