Not all in the same song of course, but The Grateful Dead, John Coltrane, The Byrds, The Beatles, Jerry Garcia, Miles Davis, Nick Drake (I was a fan before the Volkswagon Comercial, actually I don't watch much tv these days), Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Bela Bartok, Buddy Emmons, Dmitri Shostokovich, Dylan Thomas, S. T. Coleridge, Charlie Parker, Alan Monday, Jesse Ed Davis, Taj Mahal, Mary Clark, Richie Havens, Chuck Tripp, Guido Sinclair, Ravi Shankar, Ashish Khan, Paul Simon, Bob Marley, Antonello Venneri, Damien Youth, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, Duane Allman, The Kanda Bongo Man of Zaire, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Eric Dolphy, Cannonball Adderly, Nan Nelson are among the people who have influenced my playing, writing or singing. The first electric guitar I ever played (I was 13) belonged to a hero of mine, Johnse Holt. Somebody didn't show up for a rehearsal and Johnse said, "Looks like we're not going to play. Why don't you play something?" I remember I asked him why you turn the standby switch OFF to put it ON standby and he said it was because they know that guitar players are not very logical creatures. Johnse and Lauren Brandebur were a guitar team to match Duane and Dickey, Eric and Duane, Jerry and Bobby, Roger McGuinn and Clarence White. I think you will like the way Ethan Leaming and I work harmonies and counterpoints together on the HEARTIFACT records available through the website (above). They let you hear the first two minutes of songs but I guess you have to buy it (cheap) to get to the jamming. The CDs by the band, 3NOW4, have a lot of improvised counterpoint with the whole band.
Myspace Profile Tracker World Visitor Map
Hi, thanks for coming here. I play in and write songs for the Heartifacts and for my solo performances as well as playing in and writing some songs for 3NOW4 and the Anderson/Easley project. (You can check out Heartifact CDs at http://www.cdbaby.com/heartifacts1 and http://www.cdbaby.com/heartifacts2
You can find links to those and to 3NOW4 CDs by clicking on the website above and to the left.)
There's some basic biographical information on that website, different people I play with and have played with etc., and I don't want to be redundant with that so I'll tell you different basic things. I was born in Hilo, Hawaii; I grew up in Champaign, Illinois and I've lived in the New Orleans area for about 18 years. I like many styles and I decided early on in my career that I wanted to be my own man on pedal steel, not to copy other people too much.
I've been playing pedal steel for 30 years.
I've always thought of it as an instrument on which to play many kinds of music. I appreciate very much the nice comments and messages some of you have sent.
On the six-string my focus is not quite as wide ranging. Sometimes people compare me to Jerry. That's ok with me; I've been a huge fan of his since I was 12! It's probably not so much from a concious effort but possibly because he more than many others used the types of guitarisms on six-string that don't translate so easily to steel and also, I'm sure because I loved the spirit in his music and want to try to keep it alive. On the same aforementioned website there's a link to a jam from a Shannon McNally/John Ginty set in which we jammed in a Dead style when we got to the middle.
