The first song I remember playing and singing was the nursery rhyme Cat and Fiddle. I would play it on my aunts ukulele for my little cousin, it always made her laugh. Then when I was about 12, there was a guitar under my bed for Christmas. In high school I was the singer in a rock band. We practiced a lot but as I remember, only played 2 gigs. The first was a birthday party at a local country club for a crowd of younger kids that thought we were boring and old fashioned. They brought in a much younger and richer band to replace us. The other gig was a battle of the bands which we won. The prize was a $100. and a chance to open for Buffalo Springfield at the university later that year. Our bass player and lead guitar player were brothers and their parents moved around a lot. They were gone 2 months later. And the band folded. That was my brush with fame.
The first song I ever wrote was about floating down the Sandy River with my wife. The second song I wrote was to say sorry for being such a lousy husband. It was a start. That would have been around 1974. I wrote a few songs in my 20's and 30's and played for friends parties and weddings but music wasn't my focus. I was working at being a visual artist. Over time I became reasonably successful as an illustrator, photographer and graphic designer working with local advertising agencies. For thirteen years I was the cover artist for the Oregon Wine News which became the Oregon Wine Magazine. I also did a lot of grocery store graphics when grocery stores went through their "fancy dress" period. Eventually I ended up doing fine art full time with a rep that sold my work across the U.S., it was great. I figured I'd made it and romanticized about eventually passing away at my easel when my time was up.
That somewhat comforting notion was rudely interrupted on July 2, 2007 when my rep called and informed me that sales were slow and I could take a break till things picked up. We had no Idea what was coming. A year and a half later I was going to truck driving school.
For as long as I can remember, there have been 3 things I've wanted to do, be an artist, a musician and a truck driver. As they say, be careful what you wish for. It turned out to be difficult to do art in the truck, I tried. Music on the other hand turned out to be quite doable. So I focused on songwriting.
During the transition between artist and truck driver, I recorded and released an album of old songs I'd written over the years. The album 'Creative Journey' was a fun project I recorded myself. I didn't take it very seriously and admittedly, it wasn't very good but it's out there for better or for worse. In fact you'll find it on this website.
The first few years of driving were pretty unpleasant, mostly due to depression, it was a big change in life style. So I wallowed in my misery and by year 3 I had enough misery to put into a few songs and thats what I did.
Fast forward 2014 and a pocket full of new songs and I'm pretending to be a songwriter. I started playing open mics when I was home. After a couple years I created the Songwriters Review and have been playing with some amazing singer songwriters in the Portland area.
This year (2019) I plan to leave trucking and get back to music and art full time. At this writing, I'm working on a second album.
I am a singer songwriter. I've been writing songs most of my life but in 2011 I started seriously pursuing the craft of both singing and songwriting. I believe my songs would fall into the Americana genre with a little blues tossed in around the edges. Quite often they are about moments in time and more often than not, accidentally metaphorical. Mostly upbeat, rhythm based. I have a few ballads and a handful of humorous songs as well. I think my songs and voice work well in a range of venues, coffee shops to pubs. I'm capable of tailoring my delivery to fit the venue's atmosphere.
I'm not directly influenced by any particular musicians but some of my favorite singers and songwriters are Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jim Croce, Marty Robbins, Glen Campbell, Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton. In my youth I enjoyed Perry Como, Andy Williams, Barbra Streisand, Buffalo Springfield and of course, the Beatles just to name a few. I guess if I were influenced by anything it would be great voices and great stories.