| Influences | Before I started playing guitar I loved the songs and sounds of Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Hank Williams and Buck Owens because that was the music coming from the family radio. Then one of the older boys down the street played the "Meet The Beatles" record for me and life as I knew it was over - EVERYTHING was about to change! I began to scour the radio waves on my transistor radio for sounds of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Troggs, The Kinks, The Animals, The Hollies, The Yardbirds, Dave Clark Five, and The Zombies. I started growing my hair and begging my parents for a guitar, an amplifier, and a pair of Beatle Boots
After I got my first Pawn Shop guitar and amp, it did not take long to progress to the music of The Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Doors, The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown, Wishbone Ash, Taste, Led Zeppelin and Johnny Winter. Reading early Guitar Player Magazine interviews with my favorite guitarists pointed me in the direction of American Blues artists like Muddy Waters and the Three Kings - BB King, Albert King and Freddie King.
There are two guitarists and songwriters however that stand out to me as Lifetime Achievement Artists - the music of GEORGE HARRISON and ERIC CLAPTON moves me in a way that no other has. The longevity of their music and the timelessness of their songs, especially on the "All Things Must Pass" and "Pilgrim" albums, is truly inspirational. |
