| Over the next couple of decades I followed the generally acceptable course of life, working "real" jobs, driving trucks, building a business, raising a family, etc., but I still took the time to write songs, and to perform them occasionally at amateur nights, clubs, etc. The only two trophies I've ever won in my life for anything, were for singing. In 1994 I sold my business and left Southern California and moved with my wife Vicky to a remote desert ranch in northern Nevada. There I focused on my music and began to write more and better songs, and to perform them locally. I took some time to study the science of song-writing, and also took great inspiration from today's bluegrass and americana artists who showed me that there really was a place for the kind of music I write. From the time I discovered their music, it has affectedand enhanced my songwriting and performing to a greater degree than any other motivation could have done. I home-produced three CD's (see my page) between 2003 and 2008; however as time went on and I became more serious about my songwriting career, I realized that I needed to produce a CD of greater quality than I could at home, so after saving a year's truck-driving wages I went to Nashville in March of 2009 and recorded a full-length top-quality CD entitled "When You Smile". I got some of the best musicians in Nashville to play on it, including Stuart Duncan, Viktor Krauss, Justin Moses, Aubrey Hainie, and Steve Hinson; the CD was released on July 23rd, 2009. I am making preparations to move permanently to Nashville in the very near future. After spending some time there I have come to realize, in the words of John Denver from his song "Rocky Mountain High", I have "come home to a place I've never been before." I hold songwriter memberships in BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated), IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association), NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International),and NNBA (Northern Nevada Bluegrass Association). |
Biography
BIOGRAPHY
| I was born in 1958 to a pair of musicians. At 5 years of age I began to study the violin. I wrote my first song, "Eagles Are My Favorite Birds" at 7. At 14 I picked up the guitar and started to sing along with the country singers on the radio. I wrote my first real song, "Shelly", at 17.It is still one of my best. |
