About Me
I definitely am a right brain person... I love to play and listen to music -- I get high on it .
I learned to play guitar around the age of 14 ,learning how to play along side my brother Will ,and our friends Paul Kirby ,Rob Watson ,and David Collett. We pretty much played original music from the start -- we did play some cover tunes - mostly southern rock or blues based rock ...with a dash of country ala Hank
Sr., Willie and Waylon -throw in some Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd... and that evolved into "Walk The West" , with Will on lead guitar , Paul Kirby singing lead and playing guitar , and Richard Ice on drums . We were signed to Capitol Records within a year of forming "Walk the West"... I was 22 yrs. old ---We made videos for MTV ,and traveled the country ,opening for acts ranging from Stevie Ray Vaughn to "The Ramones" and "Cheap Trick" ,with "The Smithereens" and at least 50 other acts ... We never had the big radio hit - We'd already added a fiddle player named Tramp and started an alter ego band we called "The Cactus Brothers" -- adding Sam Poland on Steel and Lap Steel Guitar and David Schnauffer on the Dulcimer (probably the best in the world on the Dulcimer - check out his MySpace page ) We started opening for ourselves at WTW shows , and eventually decided to go for a record deal as TCB . We mixed lots of rock tunes with country ,playing a Zepplin tune with banjos and fiddles and bluegrass with hard driving drums---We recorded two albums for Capitol Nashville ...
I am currently in the studio working with my brother ,Will , and our drummer from WTW and TCB , David Kennedy , on a new record -We are calling ourselves "Spirit Dog"... Our latest project that has been in the works for the last 5 years and is just now (this is April 1st ,2009) ready to share with the world ... I have always been able to draw well , as far back as I can remember , and I get my "talent" (really more determined persistance) from my Father , a songwriter and artist himself who moved our family from Shreveport ,Louisiana when I was 4 to Nashville . My Mother , a school teacher/guidance counselor , loves music and plays the piano ... I got my passion for rock music from her , and for blues and country music from my Dad.
Drop me a good word or two from time to time my friends -- I can use it ...all good things to you , John
