Dreamland

Content Warning: This section includes discussion of domestic violence and mental illness.

Twenty-five year-old Colby Mills introduces himself from a beach at the Don CeSar Hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida: He is a farmer from Greenville, North Carolina, in town for three weeks to play at Bobby T’s Beach Bar. Orphaned as a young boy, he and his older sister, Paige, an artist, were raised by their aunt and uncle. A farmer with a passion for music, Colby’s uncle taught him how to play guitar, and Colby took to it immediately. During a rebellious phase in high school, he stopped helping at the farm and joined a band, but it eventually fell apart due to the lead singer’s ego and Colby resumed working at the farm. After his uncle died suddenly of a heart attack, he learned how much the farm was struggling economically and helped his grieving aunt put his uncle’s new ideas into effect. Now profitable again after being on the brink of bankruptcy, the farm raises organic cage-free eggs and grows heirloom tomatoes.

Farming consumes all of his time, but Colby is content with his life (7). During his first 10 days in Florida, he has noticed how the crowds at his shows have grown, but he is not “read[ing] too much into it” (2).