Biography

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I grew up with a love of music from a young age. As a child my Mom would often have records on during the day, I specifically remember Brahms and Beethoven. As I got older, I would raid their record collection and listen to the Ventures, Beatles, and Motown artists like Smokey Robinson and The Four Tops. It was somewhere around 1990 when my musical aspirations truly began. It was hearing Joe Satriani's "Surfing with the Alien" record that made me want to take up the guitar. My brother and many of my friends were already playing and being surrounded by guitars and with this inspiration I dove in.

The first year I played I didn't have a guitar, When my brother was gone I would sneak into his room, grab his guitar and play until he took it back. After a year I saved up enough money to buy my first guitar, an Ibanez EX350. I still didn't have an amp. I played like mad though, and now when my brother was gone I would sneak into his room and play through his amp. After another year, I finally bought my first amp. A Crate GC120 head and a 4x12 cabinet( a built of overkill for a first amp, and frankly awful sounding) I saved up enough to trade in the GC120 in favor of a 100 watt Crate Stealth head. Then I saved up enough to buy a MIM Fender Strat. This was a huge upgrade over my Ibanez.  

 In High School, I was surrounded by a bunch of great players. In retrospect an amazing collection of talent considering the size of our town. Being able to jam and learn from friends who were better than me really helped my development. I have fond memories of jamming with friends and everyone teaching each other what they were working on. 

In college, my real musical training began. I went to Henderson State University and they didn't have a Guitar Performance program, so I focused my studies on Music Composition under the tutelage of Dr. Underwood. He was a great mentor to me, he believed in my ability to write music, even if he thought I wrote too little. My knowledge of theory and appreciation for music started growing exponentially. 

In my sophomore year, I joined a band (that went by many names), full of amazing musicians and some of my best friends to this day. Nothing had a greater influence on my playing than being able to play with Mark and Jim Simmons, Jon Bloomfield, Jeannie Cogbill and Jimmy Francis. We spent the better part of 4 years  writing music and playing  through southeast Arkansas. We received a little bit of local radio play and some brief interest from a couple labels, but nothing ever came to fruition.  Back then in the mid-90's it was pretty tough to make it independently. As college ended, life advanced for all of us.

For myself, I moved to Dallas hoping I could break in the local music scene. I had potential jobs lined up at a mega church( most likely fell through because I was a little too metal). Another potential job lined up teaching at Mar's Music, that fell through as well.  I was broke and a little overwhelmed.  My career ambition switched from trying to make it as a musician to just trying to survive. I got a job as a line cook and for the next 10 years I spent my time maximizing that job all the way to an executive chef. Music was definitely on the backburner. 

Married now with our first child, I started looking to get out of restaurants to spend more time with my family. After a few years of waiting, I finally got the opportunity and with a more regular 9-5 job, I also got some time back to once again practice guitar. The goal no longer to be a professional musician, but simply to maximize whatever talent I have before I die. So here we are today, still practicing, composing, and learning.