In the beginning . . .
My career in music began with a Kay acoustic guitar and a Mel Bay chord book. I learned to play some old bluegrass and country favorites and my brother and I would entertain the family (or so they said) with renditions of “Pal of Mine” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” Then I heard the Beatles on the radio and my musical tastes began to change. There was a raw energy in “A Hard Days Night” and “Paperback Writer” that really captivated me and made me want to write songs. As time progressed, I discovered singer/songwriters like Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Dan Fogelberg and Jackson Browne and I knew that this was the direction I wanted to follow. In high school I met Sam Shuman and David Bishop and together we formed a band called Kiddog and began performing at local functions in Barnesville, Ohio. For the first time I discovered the pleasures and frustrations of performing before a live audience. We eventually came up with enough originals to record an album (in Nashville, no less) and enjoyed good success in the tri-state area, playing at such venues as Tin Pan Alley and the Country Jamboree in Wheeling, WV and the Pumpkin Festival in Barnesville. A few years later, I joined a band in Columbus, Ohio called Dealers Choice and played bass and acoustic guitar with them for about three years.
I moved to the Atlanta area in 1985 and in 1988 met Dwayne Wylds, music minister at Lilburn Christian Church. Dwayne invited me to his house to sit in with his contemporary Christian band Lifeline and I ended up joining the band playing acoustic guitar and keyboards with them for about ten years. It was a great time for me as I built relationships with other Christian musicians. For the first time in my life I was able to express my faith through music.
In the Fall of 1999, Scott Scoggins who was in the band Bright Sky at the time introduced me to Frank French who owned a recording studio in Woodstock, Georgia. Frank and I got together and laid down some acoustic guitar and vocal tracks. Frank added bass and drums, and then beautifully layered the tracks with piano, keyboards, mandolin, harmonica and percussion. There were times when I felt like giving up, but Frank encouraged me to keep going, feeling that we had something special. We finished recording and mastering in the Summer of 2001, and I feel really good about the finished product. I believe that God has given me something to say through music and I hope that it encourages someone along the way.
