My dad, [George Sanchez], is a writer, actor and director, and my mom was an actress, so I was always around theater, was on stage by kindergarten and did theater through high school and college but I was never comfortable saying somebody else’s words. That’s why I started writing my own songs. I’m much more comfortable saying what I’ve got to say.

I wanted to learn to play two Beatles songs on guitar. But I didn’t know how to play those songs so I started writing my own.

In 2005 prior ...