I'm a maturing songwriter, and constantly learning guitarist. My career in music started as a background singer for Paul Simon, Billy Joel, James Taylor, Neil Diamond, and whatever other cassette tapes I could get my hands on! I made guest appearences with the likes of ABBA, REO Speedwagon, and Barry Manilow tapes while riding in the car with my mom. These were really big gigs for a little kid, and defining moments in the foundation of a lifetime of music to follow.
I lucked into a best friend around the age of fifteen. Ari Friedman, who can be seen around Cleveland in the form of Harry Bacharach, was there when I first started learning the guitar. He was learning bass, and to avoid royaly screwing up our favorite songs, we immediately began to write and harmonize our own. No minor girlfriend qualm unturned, a body of music began to materialize.
Ari and I moved to Oregon to attend college, while continuing to hone our craft. Under the influence of great northwestern textbooks, we got our first taste of live performance in the enlightening academic scene famously associated with the city of Eugene. This journey culminated in the "Green's Blues", an original folk opus set in the future, in which a newly amorous couple struggle to cope with the evacuation of planet Earth in search of more hospitable atmosphere, this was performed three times for the Standing Room Only crowd in the 100 seat Pocket Playhouse...which felt like Radio City Music Hall to me.
After college I lived in Los Angeles, where I worked as a sound editor in the television industry. L.A. nightlife tending toward the expensive, I did a lot of writing and practicing in my free time, along with bodyboarding amongst the porpoises of Zuma, and pick-up soccer games amongst the people of the entire world, I started listening to and absorbing bluegrass music which in a way, combines the organic sound of the easier life I longed for, with the rhythmic drive of the city I was in.
Which brings me back to Cleveland. I own a home. I've got a great dog who barely survived Hurricane Katrina and now is as healthy and happy as it's possible to be. I teach guitar lessons to some of the greatest people in the world. I'm in one of Cleveland's busiest bands, the front man of which I've been a fan of since I was fifteen. JiMiller Band is a great group of guys, and it has been an invaluable experience playing with them since the winter of 2005.
I continue to have my own aspirations, and new songs present themselves to me with every turn in life. The songs posted on this page have all been written since returning to Cleveland, and if I have my druthers...they will never stop coming!
Thanks for stopping by, and if you've read this far...get back to work!
Peace
