Album Notes

OK, I'll just admit it. I have a charmed life. I'm not wealthy. I'm not famous. And I haven't changed the world. But I've always had it pretty damn good.

I was raised on a dairy farm in rural Arkansas somewhere between Toadsuck and Booger Hollow. (I'm serious.) I grew up there with my parents, six sisters and three brothers. I was born the ninth of ten kids with my twin sister, Janie.

Janie is my guardian angel. I can remember her beating up at least one boy who picked on me. In addition, a week or two after every birthday and Christmas we swapped toys. Yes, I was the proud owner, via Janie, of a sparkling EasyBake Oven.

Janie and I started singing together in grade school when she got her first guitar. By high school we were leading the student masses in church. When I moved to Washington State in 1989, Janie was not far behind. Not long after her arrival, we began performing our songs around the Puget Sound area.

The first cd I recorded in 1995 was titled "I Pledge". I had begun writing the songs because I was tired of changing the pronouns of songs I sang in the shower from "her/she" to "him/he". I quit my job and tried devoting all my time to writing and singing. The pressure to pay rent on a struggling performer's salary about killed me. Music stopped being fun. So I sold my piano, put away my guitar, and songs stopped writing themselves in my head. It wasn't until I developed a crush on a beautiful redheaded man several years later that the music returned. (I have an obnoxious obsession with redheaded men.)

My new songs are about love, for better and worse. I don't really believe in last chances where love is concerned. These songs are expressions of my experience with the joy, pain, success, and deep regret that come with the beast. I know that when I open my heart, I see love through the eyes of a changed man. With luck it will be the last first day of the rest of my life. I hope you enjoy my new cd. "Last Chance".