John Dodd, a 25-year-old guitarist, plays music to soothe his soul. After a period of chaos, he regrouped and now uses music for therapeutic needs.

The Kentucky native moved away from home, only to come back and have his belongings destroyed in a fire.

“I came down here and someone set my s**t on fire and blew up my car,” he said. “It’s the only reason I’m still here.”

Dodd had to rebuild his life from the ground up by moving in with his older sister in downtown Evansville, playing local bars and getting his name in the music scene.

After graduating high school in Hopkinsville, Ky., Dodd decided to travel overseas. He moved to New Zealand and Australia, and proceeded to move back to the U.S, before his life was set ablaze.

“I did not have anything to my name that couldn’t fit in my car,” Dodd said. “Social security card, birth certificate – everything was destroyed.”

Playing music since age seven, Dodd has developed a talent that runs deep in his family. Out of the five children, he and his brother play guitar while his sisters have the voices.

“I always wanted to play with Dad and my older brother Isaac, but they wouldn’t play with me,” he said. “However, Mom has a wonderful voice. Just none of the girls learned to play instruments.”

Born in Virginia, Dodd’s family moved to the un-musical town of Cades, Ky., where he played alone most of the time.

“I was social, but I didn’t need anyone. I was alone a lot of the time,” Dodd said. “I wasn’t shy, it was more like I enjoyed being by myself.”

Dodd found places to play like local churches, cookouts or street corners. That was a shock to the townspeople because of the lack of music in the town, he said.

“Once you reached a certain age there was no such thing as music,” Dodd said. “You couldn’t really find people who played.”

Now, Dodd is taking breaks from playing in collectives and is focusing on himself and getting back to the basics.

“What keeps you playing always changes,” he said. “I want to play music because I don’t have a therapist.”