My musical journey on this planet began when Victoria (my birth mother) who was not ready to have a baby, made a choice, she chose to give birth to me. My Mom and Dad chose to adopt me after they had six children of their own and adopted another child 1.5 years before me. I was raised in a small town in Western, KS where my Mom and Dad owned and operated the grocery store and liquor store for a combined 35 years. I grew up playing hide and seek (or ditchem), climbing trees, shooting guns, hunting, riding bikes, skateboarding, swimming and diving, playing baseball, football, water skiing and boating, sledding (usually on a car hood turned upside down being pulled by a car), playing Pong, Atari, Intellivision, playing drums and guitar. Hill City is a great place with great people and the 2 people I love, respect and admire most in this world live there - Mom and Dad.There were no other musicians in my family; however my Mom always had the big console stereo jamming with Glen Campbell, Chet Atkins, Mahalia Jackson, Eddy Arnold, and Jim Neighbors among others. I looked to the local area influences which included the high school pep band led by Mr Dick Wolford (rocked it out at basketball games), JF Stover (the local bluegrass guy), Dave Goff (had every piece of equipment now sought after by collectors and players) he taught me "Hang on Sloopy" and introduced me to bar chords, Larry Henderson (of The Three Jacks) they could go from Polka to Country to Rock - I'll never forget his BC Rich Mockingbird guitar and the way he sways back and forth. I started out playing drums in fifth grade and always had a guitar as well, but really focused in on drums - in the 7th and 8th grade my best friend and drum mentor Jeff Owen and I had dual drum sets at all the concerts and events we played at. We must have been inspired by local rock band influence "Night Machine" who brothers Ty and Elijah Bruton pounded out 70's rock at every cement slab and fair building in Western Kansas. During high school Jeff and I had an open pass during lunch and study hall to go in the band room and jam. My high school years were filled with drumming at school, and numerous bands that seemed to practice a lot, never get better, and never get any gigs. I remember shopping at Village music in Hays and owning some really cool axes a high schooler had no business having - My first guitar was the Sears Harmony guitar, which I remember later giving our bass player permission to light it on fire for some film project he was doing - I think I gave it to Jeff and from there who knows. I bought a bright yello Hondo Strat style guitar from Midwest Music - Jerry (the sax player from Jimmy Dee sold it to me) next I traded it for a red Fender Bullet - the Squire of its day - traded a local guy that guitar and $100 for a 71 natural wood Strat. I traded the Strat STRAIGHT across with Gene Park for a 71 Les Paul Sunburst (the one that got away). It gets a little fuzzy, but I know I traded in that guitar for some mics and a wireless system later. When Dave Goff was "away" I held on to his 1967 Rickenbacker 365 - after giving it back and bugging him for 20 some years, I was able to buy it back and play it all the time. After high school I took a scholarship to play bass guitar at an area community college, I joined a band there and found out (by the police coming into our practice room) these guys had stolen most of their gear from Midwest Music and sound company gear trucks. I then moved to Hays and took a job doing landscaping, after a few failed bands, I took to running sound for some local acts including a top 40's rock band called Submytion and a regional 50's and 60's legend called The Jimmy Dee band.Though, I enjoyed landscaping and running sound, I knew I needed to move on in my life. I moved to Kansas City and went to Devry and received my Electronics Engineering Technology degree and soon thereafter went to work in the booming cell phone industry, got married, started having numerous children, and moving up the corporate ladder. I bought an acoustic guitar to keep around, and played it every once in a while, after hooking up with co-workers John Parrott and Frank Paxton for some jamming, we formed "3 Guys From Work" and had our first debut at the Sprint PCS Christmas party - the day before, Frank I traveled to Lawrence to pick up my first good acoustic guitar my, 1997 Taylor 410 KCE ( I recently learned this is a limited edition and only 320 of them were built). We played one other gig, the Johnson family anniversary benefit at Dugans. Then we went in different directions and I started writing and home recording. One day a special project at work flung me right into the middle of the life of the touring musician, I spearheaded the development and deployment of the mobile wifi hotspot now being utilized in every major touring operation throughout the world. This basically allows for musicians and touring professionals to access the internet while riding on their tour buses. This was a very grass roots project that took me on a journey understanding the operations of the music business including touring, marketing, teamwork, musicianship, and friendship. I have met and spent time with numerous artists, their teams, and their families. Some that have been influential in my life, some that have not. Through my collaboration and sponsorship of the Wakarusa Music Festival, www.wakarusa.com I was introduced to a whole new realm in music, the musician’s musicians, people like Robert Randolph, Warren Haynes and Government Mule, Bela Fleck, Galactic, Sound Tribe Sector Nine, Bernie Worrell, The Flaming Lips, Umphrey’s McGee, The North Mississippi All Stars, The Samples, and the list goes on and on.. I have the utmost respect for these artists and the amount of hard work and perseverance they do to juggle tourinig, recording, families, and life in general. It is not an easy gig – My advice to those of you striving to get there – figure out where there is first – it may not be the place you want to be, so don’t spend your time and energy unless you know where you are going. Success is measured in many different ways. After all this hanging out with musicians, I got the bug to start playing more, so I have – I try to sneak out once a week and go to a great jam night here in downtown Kansas City, I am periodically writing and recording in my “studioâ€, I have quite a collection of guitars, that seems to keep growing. I have recently done my first online collaboration with someone I have never even talked to on the phone. It sounds cold, but it is still fun virtually jamming and producing. I currently have one wife and six beautiful children and we do know what causes it and we’ve gotten pretty good at it. Are we done? If you want to hear God laugh you tell him your plan. We have a 12 passenger van and live in semi-organized chaos. Special Thanks to my wife Sara for taking care of 7 children (including me), Hugh Gerard, Jeff Owen, Frank Paxton (visit www.paxtonbrothers.com), Rick Goricki (The Polish Prince of Rock and Roll), Scott Cameron, Robert Randolph, Rick Nielsen, and numerous other people who have encouraged and influenced me.
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