During the late ‘80‘s and early '90's, I was the frontman, vocalist, guitarist, and main composer for the rock and blues act, "Wolves of Azure". I toured the eastern United States (playing CBGB's in NYC, Fat Matt's in Atlanta, and nearly every place inbetween) and received radio-play in New York City, Washington, DC, Richmond (VA), Asheville (NC), Frederick (MD), etc. In 1992, I recorded an album at Cheshire Studios in Atlanta (on an SSL 4000 to a Studer A820 24T) with producer George Pappas (Drivin' n' Cryin', Georgia Satellites, Mick Jagger, etc.). The disk sold well over 3,000 copies in a pre-internet world. During that time I played with or opened up for Dave Matthews, Edgar Winter, Elvin Bishop, New Potato Caboose, Galee Sanchez (Santana), Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Danny Gatton, Delbert McClinton, the Nighthawks, Aquarium Rescue Unit, Bob Margolin, Zen Frisbee, the Guess Who, Jimmy Gaudreau, Mike Seeger, and the Marshall Tucker Band.

During the late 90's and early 00's, I audio engineered for the Pacifica Network, National Public Radio, and several Washington, DC radio stations.  Studio recordings were still being made on 1/4” reel to reel tape and edits were made with razor and adhesive tape. Based on my interest in vacuum tube amplifiers, I completed an electrical engineering degree with a concentration on device physics and RF circuitry at the University of Maryland.

After several years of work both at the Bureau of Standards (NIST) in the single-electron tunneling transistor experiment and for the Defense Department (clandestine audio-gathering devices and antenna design), I returned to audio engineering by completing my studio, Stonebridge Studios, in January 2007.

Studio work with Jerry Joe Reno and One Horse Town also developed into a relationship with Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein. I recorded and mixed the album "2:10 Train" which was released on Rebel Records in March 2008. One recording for the follow-up album is “Whiskey Boy” which you can listen to on the Soundclips page. Moondi recently brought by Jonathan Edwards and Mike Auldridge to record vocal tracks. With Jimmy, I have had the immense pleasure to appreciate and record Frank Vignola, Bill Emerson, Orrin Starr, and Steve Riggs.

In 2009, I played mandolin for Jeff Sherman’s “American Stranger” album. Jeff’s producer was Mike Pugh. Mike hired me to live mix and track mix his first production as Goose Creek Live. Our relationship developed into becoming partners in Goose Creek Music.

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When I was ten, I created a four track from two cassette decks so that I could record vocals over songs from the AM radio station, WTON. I also wanted to create sound-effects.  While collecting data for a school project, I went to WTON’s office/studio on Beverly where the studio engineer showed me how he created the special effects for commercials.

Life began with the banjo. Cultivating personality as a 13 year old on a faux farm (10 acres and a horse instead of forty acres...), I entertained the neighbors and wildlife with my Scruggs' mutilations from the safety of my parents' rooftop. Socially, however, I found the banjo to be alienating for a teenager so that in the following year, I switched to a shiny gold Les Paul with which to thwart authority.

Lou Reed, the Clash, the Ventures, Jefferson Airplane, Chuck Mangione, and Jimi Hendrix were my only albums for quite a while. My first gig was when the Victims (high school friends) allowed me to wail on a couple of songs with them at a house party (Dave Powers' girlfriend's house). The vocalist extraorinaire was Wes Freed who later went to VCU and led the thrash art bands Mudd Helmet and Dirtball in Richmond, VA. (more about him later).

During this same period, I jammed with Mike Seeger (Pete's half-brother) at another house party. John Jackson and Roy Bookbinder were memorable influences that I saw at the Oak Grove Music Festival which was around the corner from my house. The Findells were the local "cool" band (especially when they played at the all-girls high school).

College took me to Chapel Hill, NC where music was everywhere. Memorable shows were Albert Collins, Gatemouth, Walter Wolfman Washington, Bo Diddley, the Meat Puppets, Dead Kennedys, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Pat Metheney, John Scofield, Corrosion of Conformity, Bob Margolin, Camper Van Beethoven, and Omar and the Howlers. My first gig in Chapel Hill was at the Teen Center as Zen Frisbee with Kevin Dixon and Chuck Garrison. Dysfunctional Psychedelia might have been a better name. More productive music evolved with Dmitri Resnick who later went to New Orleans to establish himself as an excellent blues guitarist and bandleader.

In Charlottesville, VA I met bassist Craig Reid whose biggest gig had been in 1969 when he opened up for Ted Nugent in front of 20,000 people in Miami. He and I began working up a song list. At the same time I started playing in a duo with Larry Becker who had been playing with the Boyd Tinsley Band (later of Dave Mathews fame). Larry and I played between 5 and 10 times a week which paid well and was a lot of fun.

Later Craig and I reconnected and we pulled in Joe Doerr as keyboardist. Joe was a creative piano player who eventually incorporated an excellent feel for the B-3 organ sound that helped define the band's sound. Craig and I wrote most of the original material and created original versions of cover tunes. Eddie Almodovar, who was from the Bay area and had played with Chuck Berry, became our drummer under the name Wolves of Azure. Replacing Eddie with the jazz-oriented Jim Ralston, we made a CD in Atlanta, GA with George Pappas who had produced Drivin' N' Cryin's first album and Georgia Satellites. The CD sold over 3,000 copies almost entirely at gigs. Eventually, Harris Kendrick and Dave Jenkins joined the band on keyboards and drums. This version took the band to a wider audience.

During this time, a number of bands were playing in Charlottesville: Charlie Pastorfield, Indecision, Monkey Wrench, Tim Reynolds, and Dave Mathews. All of us played the same clubs and drew some of the same audience. We also sat in with each others bands. We won the battle of the bands over Boyd Tinsley's group, and the next year Boyd joined Dave Mathews and beat us. One night at Maxx, I was on stage with Dave Mathews, Tom Principato, Galee Sanchez (Santana), Boyd Tinsley, LeRoi (also from Dave's band), Charlie Pastorfield, and Aaron from Indecision. It was a great time.

One evening after we played in New York city at McGovern's Bar, I walked to CBGB's and saw Wes Freed with Mudd Helmet. I don't know who was more surprised: him or me. I was casing the joint because we were going to play there the next night. That was a rare moment.

One time in Roanoke (VA), we played a triple bill at the Iroquois Club with DSF Earth Corps and the Hubcaps. DSF was an interesting, passionate, hippie band whose members lived in a run-down log cabin in North Carolina. They were talented and had good songs. The Hubcaps, on the other hand, were a garage band on acid; literally. They played six tunes which all sounded similar, and then they proceeded to destroy their equipment on stage. They annihilated the stage and their equipment. I had never seen anything like it (they made the Who look tame). It was only later that I found out that they were "tripping" while playing.

In Charlottesville, a slightly inebriated Sam Shephard (the playwright and actor) sat in on drums one night. A couple of nights later, I shook Joey Ramone's hand after he played at Trax. It was a week of luminaries.

Another night, a woman came up and started feeling the t-shirts we were selling. She said she liked them but she didn't have enough money for one. I asked what she might have to trade and she replied, "How about my eyes?" I said that was funny and she said she was serious. She bent over, rubbed at one of her eyes and stuck something in her mouth. She spit out what looked like a squashed marble and I said, "What is that?" She said, "My eye." I told her I didn't believe it, and she said, "Look." And she held open her eye socket. I gave her the shirt, and I didn't keep the eye.