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I am an independent (indie) acoustic guitarist and singer - songwriter. This means that I am an unsigned artist to any major record label. This condition allows me great freedom as a songwriter in exploring diverse lyric themes and the ability to record both instrumental and vocal CDs. It also means I don't make the big bucks. 

My independent spirit was fostered early, being given the freedom, as a child, to roam the high plains of Texas around our small farm outside of Amarillo. My music development began at an early age with piano and violin lessons. Having a deep desire to do anything but practice the piano or the violin, I started playing a $10 "Silvertone" guitar at the age of 11 and found my love (and a few splinters from the neck). This experience began a 30-year love for exploring the fret board. I began writing and performing my own songs in my early teens, but my first songs are loved only by my mother.

Early influences included, Cat Stevens, Neil Young, James Taylor, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Leo Kottke, and Chet Atkins. Later influences have included artists such as Bruce Cockburn and David Wilcox whose combination of acoustic guitar and lyrics are remarkable, Tony Rice whose rich guitar licks make me wish I was a better flat picker, and Michael Hedges acoustic guitar instrumentalist extraordinaire.

In 1983, I recorded my first album. Since that time, I have completed five additional solo CDs (see discography), all of which were independently produced.

I am reluctant to classify my music, because I have always resisted labels. However, it is oriented around finger-style and flat-picking techniques on acoustic guitar. My lyric themes are diverse, touching on people, places and events and the joy, sorrow, love, hate, defeat and victory that we all inevitably experience. My writing reflects my belief in God as the sovereign and personal creator of the universe. Though I do not consider most of my music to be religious, it is necessarily deeply spiritual.

I have traveled throughout the United States and Europe performing at a variety of venues including, universities, concert halls, coffee houses, nightclubs, and churches. My favorite setting is one that is intimate where I can make eye contact and feel the "breath" of the audience. While it's also exciting for me to play large concert settings, I am at least as happy in someone's living room playing to a few friends.

In 1979 I moved to Lakewood, Colorado where I live with my wife Luann and two children, Jordan and Aubrey. Ours is a rather complex mixture of family, music, travel, miscellaneous other jobs, and occasional recreation. I like to climb mountains when I'm not working. My son and I often go climbing in the winter to take advantage of the solace and quiet to be found there.