While his interest in music seemed to start in seventh grade after participating in an online songwriting contest, Caleb Kuennen has taken his personal struggles and turned them into music of his very own. When he returned to Ames from a mental health facility in Le Mars, Iowa, the friends he had met at open mics at the Ames Vinyl Grind were there for him.

“I would come home and the friends I got to know were so welcoming and understanding of the situation,” Kuennen said.

Kuennen’s project, Cable the Man, has an indie folk sound that, according to Kuennen, is influenced heavily by artists like Sufjan Stevens and Bon Iver. Since he grew up in a religious household, the Christian music he heard growing up also had an influence on his acoustic guitar playing.

“I listened to a lot of Christian rock,” Kuennen said. “There’s always acoustic guitar in contemporary worship music.”

Kuennen also has his own recording business, Stay Anchored Audio, in Nevada, Iowa, and is gradually trying to book clients to record their own music in his studio. However, the business aspect is only a small part of Kuennen’s involvement in the local scene. After playing shows at DG’s Taphouse, Talent Factory in Nevada and his own place, Kuennen said that connecting with people and gaining perspective on them is what is most important to him when it comes to sharing music.

“You get to know people — their hearts and what they’re about,” Kuennen said. “It’s about deep, intimate perspective about who they are as a person.

While Kuennen’s upcoming album, Depression Fights on the Floor, focuses on Kuennen’s battle with depression, he wants those who hear it to feel deeply and believe in the hope that comes with struggle.

“This album is kind of depressing, but there’s a massive sense of hope that you’ll do great things after a struggle,” Kuennen said.