Album Notes

Mama sang to me in the swing. The first song that grabbed me and wouldn't let go was Rock Around the Clock. Hard to believe but there was an accordion fad in the mid fifties. I took a few lessons but that wasn't it. I used to listen to the radio at night and I remember hearing Merle Travis and loving the sound of his guitar.

From fourth grade through seventh I played clarinet in the school band. I really wanted a saxophone but couldn't manage to get one. "Ozzie and Harriett" was a weekly TV show. I thought Ricky Nelson had it goin' on. He'd get up and sing and strum his guitar then end up surrounded by all the girls. Good role models are important.

One day I was tuning around the radio and I heard Chuck Berry and Duane Eddy and a whole bunch of cool stuff. Now the world was in color. My mother could make a ukelele talk. We had them around the house and one day she showed me how to make the chords for "Love Me Tender". That was all it took.

When I heard "Walk Don't Run" by The Ventures all I wanted was a whammy bar. I got one and played lead guitar in a surf band called "The Esquires". We played all over L.A. and had a blast.

I saw Joan Baez in concert around 1964. It was the first time an artist grabbed me with her incredible presence. I became a folk singer.

In the early seventies I was in various bar bands. Chick Corea and Return to Forever is the most intense band I've ever seen. The best time I ever had was when I was studying music at The Cornish School in Seattle.

Back to Back was a road band in the late 70's. We played all around the Northwest and out as far as Northern California and Wyoming. I took a big break from music in the mid 80's. I played with computers a lot.

Around 1989 a friend from work turned me on to Joe Satriani and guitar got interesting again. I bought a 4-track and started writing songs and making demos. I did some gigs with Moby Grape and Sam Andrew.

A part of my roots are in the Blues. Around 2000 we had a pretty good rockin' blues band called The Trouble Boys. We released a CD titled "Blues All Over". You can find it at www.cdbaby.com/cd/troubleboys

For the past 20 years I've made my living teaching private guitar lessons. Another clump of my roots is in Country. Lately that's what I'm listening to.
"Second Hand Smoke" is a stew made of all those ingredients.

Enjoy!