A lot of folks in the music business suggest that a biography be written in a third person perspective. And that’s how my bio was written at the beginning of my web site in 2006. Now, however, I would rather just tell you about myself and leave off the “professional” me.

Currently I am 52 years old. I began playing guitar on my 16th birthday. That’s when my mom gave me one for a present. I had promised I would learn how to play it because I signed up for a guitar class at high school. I really had no intention of learning the instrument; I took the class only because I figured I’d be able to goof off in it. I wasn’t much into school.

I was a loner . . . we moved around a lot. The guitar became my best companion. It probably kept me out of trouble too. I would stay up until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. playing that thing. And from the start I made up my own compositions. I never did learn how to play someone else’s songs except those taught in that guitar class.

Being that I was a teenager, I soon migrated to the electric guitar. I just had to mimic the hard rock music I was into. I actually became a very good rhythm guitarist and passed every audition. So I was in a number of original rock bands back then. Yet there remained a love for acoustic guitar music that was inadvertently introduced to me by a sister listening to her Crosby, Stills & Nash and Neil Young records . . . before I even learned how to play.

Those band days lasted only about five years. I never became known on the music circuit though. The bands I joined rarely went beyond their local playing area. And I was still a loner; I didn’t hang out with musicians up in L.A. or Hollywood. I never met or knew anyone famous. I did however play in a band, for which I gave its name ‘Firestorm’, with Robert Sweet – best known for being the drummer of Stryper. Then came a two year break due to the crush of fleeting fame. It came close and the band broke up. I never played in a rock band again.

I resurfaced as the rhythm guitarist in a Praise & Worship band at a church I began attending. I had become a Christian at age 17 but only got serious about it in my mid 20’s. (Interestingly this was about the same time Stryper came into existence). I spent three years in this group. It’s here I learned music can be a healing affect in the heart, body and mind. I would not trade this experience for anything.

Around 1989 I again dropped off the musical landscape. In fifteen years of being a musician/songwriter I had failed to become “someone”. I was disappointed. I sold all my performing and recording gear, keeping only one acoustic guitar. Another two year hiatus began . . . another dry spell.

The 90’s found me managing a truly great rock band, Sunday Silents. The drummer, a friend from church, was in the band and invited me to a gig. I told them they should get a manager . . . they chose me! Later I spent five years as lead guitarist in my most favorite band to have ever been in, Purple Mountain Matinee. The decade ended with me leaving PMM and once again disappearing from the musical landscape.

In 2004 I began messin’ around with alternate tunings on the guitar after having listened to – over and over again – the Guitar Passion album by Dallas Gordon. This one album inspired a return to playing, composing and recording my own music. And I found a more proper place and expression in being an instrumentalist. In 2006 I recorded my first album, ‘Clearly‘, under my own name. Thirty-two years after first learning how to play the guitar.

I have spent all my 35 years as a musician also being a “day job” person. Yes, my time has been split between the two, the “daily grind” winning out. Good? Bad? Who knows? I may have been a young rock star tragedy . . . since “die young” was a motto back then. But at 50 I determined music would have a more prominent place in my life.

So, it comes down to: I have no claim-to-fame, no accolades to boast of, and don’t know that I ever will have either. I’m just a normal guy that happens to play guitar and compose instrumental music . . . which I hope will enable you to escape the noise and enjoy some quiet moments.