PC: When did you begin your music career?

HM: I have been writing for a really long time and I've been singing for a long time, but obviously that is different from having a music career. I started making money through playing when I was about 18 or 19 and recorded my first CD when I was 20. I guess if being paid makes you a professional then I started my career about six years ago.

PC: Who are your main musical influences?

HM: I really love to listen to singer/songwriters so my influences are Beth Wood, (www.bethwoodmusic.com), and Darrell Scott, Patty Griffin, Kasey Chambers, Austin Cunningham, Kelly Willis, Dolly Parton, Ryan Adams,Radney Foster and Rosie Thomas. When these people bring out CD's I rush out to get them...the first day they come out...that's how I've determined they are influences. The first time I saw Darrell Scott was last October with my Dad and as soon as that show was over I bought, Theater of the Unheard and then I went to Bill's Records in Tapes in Richardson and bought every CD Darrell ever made...twice.

PC: What approach do you take when writing your songs?

HM: I sit for hours and play my guitar and just start singing, or I get on the computer and start typing whatever idea comes to mind, then I go and put it to guitar, or I make up stuff while I'm driving around...which is dangerous because if I get a good idea I always seem to either speed up or slow down a lot. I don't know why that happens.

PC: Decribe what Texas music is all about to you?

HM: Texas music is about variety and originality...and roots. It's really great to be a part of a state that has offered so much to music as a whole. Janis Joplin, Beyonce Knowles, Willie Nelson, Norah Jones, great blues players, Lee Ann Womack, George Strait....it's incredible!

PC: (Texas music artists are like one big family,everyone helps each other out)is this true?

HM: I think Texas artist do help each other out. Austin Cunningham might be the greatest example of this...he's just a really giving artist that has just gone above and beyond what he had to do to give me guidance when I've needed it. Tommy Alverson is another artist that has been really helpful...he puts on his Family Gathering each year which brings Texas artists and Texas music fans together for a whole weekend. He also invited me to record a duet with him for a new album coming out September 28th called Heroes and Friends. The duet is a cover of a Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner song called, Just someone I Used to Know. Also on the album are Tommy's friends and fellow artists, Ray Wylie, Gary P., and Rusty Wier, Davin James...a whole bunch of people helping each other out to make great music. Beth Wood has also let me open for her outside of Texas...she has shared stages and radio shows with me across the South East and let me see what a little touring is like.

PC: If you had to pick a couple of songs you have written that you are most proud of, what would they be and why?

HM: I'm really proud of "Amazing" because it has really moved people. I just recently sang it in a friends wedding...and that is wonderful to be able to share a song I wrote with someone on such an amazing day in their lives. I always end my sets usually by singing, "Amazing." I have a new song called, "How Leaving Feels." that I am really proud of because it has a lot of energy and some really cool guitar chords in my opinion so I just feel like it's proof to me that I am growing as a songwriter.

PC: What's your fondest career memory so far?

HM: Hmmmmmm....I really had a great time at my Dallas CD release party in October of 2002. I had a lot of friends and family there and my band was with me and everything just fell into place and I came home that night after the show and wrote myself a letter about how I had so much fun and why I couldn't ever let myself give up on music.

PC: Where do you want to be in the next few years with your music career? Any long term goals?

HM: This is a great question...more ironic...I've been going through some boxes of old homework and school work my mom kept for whatever reason from my elementary school days and I found some artwork in there that had a microphone cut out of a magazine and glued on a piece of sheet music and on the top of the page there were the words: Short Term Goals; to write more songs and then at the bottom of the page it said: Long Term Goals; to become a singer. I think I was probably nine years old when I made it. I think I have the same goals, to write more songs, and to become a recording artist with a great publishing deal too.

PC: Is there anybody that you would like to perform with on stage or do a duet with? 

HM: I would like to do the show "Crossroads" from CMT one day. I haven't figured out who would be a good match...there is a new artist out that does some rock and pop stuff named Toby Lightman that plays guitar and writes her own stuff so she would possibly be a good person to trade music with since you sing the other persons material. I'd love to perform with Dolly Parton, or Merle Haggard, or gosh, John Mayer, or...ARETHA FRANKLIN! That would be so fun!

PC: In your CD player right now, what CD would be found?

HM: Right now is Beth Wood's Ghostwriter CD. Love it! #7 is my favorite song on that one. I also have Austin Cunningham's new CD, Making Music in the Money Biz...and then Patty Griffin, 1,000 Kisses or 10,000 kisses and some Ryan Adams.