Growing up in Bryan-College Station, Texas, Coffman found an old Alvarez guitar in his mother’s closet behind stacks of Motown, 70s songwriters, and Tina Turner records. “My mom showed me three or four chords after I confronted her with the guitar, like, ‘Why has this been hidden in our house?’” Coffman says with a smile. An elite gymnast en route to becoming a national champion, he carried the guitar with him on long bus rides to competitions, and then west to college at the University of Texas at Austin. When an injury finally ended his athletic career at 20, Coffman immersed himself wholly in music. 

After graduation, Coffman packed up and moved to Houston, where he first built a following with his band, The 71s. The quartet decided to part ways in 2012, and solo projects including 2016’s Killer Eyes followed, always gaining traction thanks to Coffman’s Springsteen-esque grasp on the beauty only found in grit. Houston Press, Space City Rock, and other outlets noticed. But as projects opened doors, Coffman had to step back, moved by forces out of his control. Diagnosed with Bipolar II and Obsessive-compulsive disorder while still in high school, the diseases reared up and set him down. “You don’t know why Bipolar pops up when out does––it just comes out of nowhere, and boom,” Coffman says. “A few years ago, when things got very difficult, I decided, well, I’m not going to stop writing even though I’m not sure if these songs are any good - my analytical skills aren’t what they should be. When I got back to myself, I had these 10 songs.”