I was born the 2nd youngest of 7 kids in Clarksville Tennessee and was raised just about my whole life in Clarksville. I have 5 brothers and 1 sister and although we grew up broke, we were never poor..(I think being poor is a state of mind and being broke will pass when you work a little harder to make more money). I have worked hard pretty much my whole life.. Somewhere around the age of 10 my brother and I would mow grass around the neighborhood to earn money, then by age 13 we were in the tobacco fields cutting tobacco and at the age of 15 I had a job as a bus-boy at one of our local Steakhouses and saved my money to buy my first car a few weeks before my 16th Birthday, it was a pretty red 1974 Firebird !! I continued working and saving and blowing my money just as any teenage kid would do and never had many dull moments. Like most kids I hated High School and could not wait to get out to start living my life, and little did I know that those were the best years of my life that I was trying to speed up. When I was 18 I moved to the Washington D.C. area (Ft Belvoir Va) to live with my oldest brother Ron and his family. My brother Ron was in the Army and worked at the White House on the Honor Guard and really prepaired me to become an adult. Before I moved I had very little disipline, I was very street-smart but not very knowledgeable about how the world really worked. I got a job while I was there as an assistant in a shipping dept for a printing company and within 6 months I became the manager over the entire Department. That might not sound like a big deal to you, but remember I was just 19 years old and was in total control of about 20 drivers and all the orders that had to be shipped out..It was a huge amount of responsibility for a young man of 19 years! When I turned 21 I moved back to Clarksville and took a job driving a Package car for United Parcel Service. Somewhere in the middle of what I just told you are things that I left out such as always working 2 jobs.. It seems my whole life I would always have 2 sticks in the fire and both of them burning at the same time and as soon as one stick would burn out I would light another just to keep me busy. I'll bet if I went to talk with a psychiatrist he would tell me why I feel I have to work myself into the grave, and I would go see one but I just dont have time..(Because I am too busy).. So this leads us up to my Music... I would love to tell you that I sat up all night as a child picking my guitar until my fingers bled, or singing in the church choir every sunday, or taking band class in High School..But none of these apply to me. The truth is I was at a Karaoke Bar sometime in 2000 or 2001 and had a few drinks with my Pals and someone dared me to get up and sing! Thats right, I got my rear in gear and hit that small stage in that smokey bar in front of all of 20 people and belted out a brutal version of Merle Haggards "Sing me back Home" song.. Thats all it took and I was hooked ! I went on to practice my singing skills every chance I could and started practicing with my first guitar and playing a little piano when I found time. I entered several singing contest and even landed on the Ed McMahans "Next Big Star" contest where I took 3rd place out of 60 contestants. I then performed for several Corporate Events at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville and wherever I could land a gig performing. I finally landed a 2 year steady gig for Gibson Guitar Theater in Nashville entertaining and promoting my shows for the people in Nashville and surrounding areas with pretty good success. It was not until Oct of 2006 when I finally slowed down from public shows..This is when my Father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and at the time he was already in bad health but we were told he had just a few months to live. So I cancelled every public show I had on the books for the next 6 months and turned away every show that I was offered until my father passed away just a couple of months ago. During the 8 Months that I had not been performing I met with Nashville songwriter Curt Ryle and decided that since I would not be able to perform away from home it would be a good time to go into the studio and cut a new C.D. of mostly original material. Curt allowed me to go through his catalog and choose whatever I wanted from his collection of songs. He has written hits for Billy Ray Syrus, George Jones, Mel Tilis, Trisha Yearwood, and the list go's on and on.. So we settled on 8 originals and 5 re-makes of old tunes by Marty Robbins, Jack Greene, Jeanie Sealy, Elvis Presley and Joe Stampley. We brought in the best studio musicians from Nashville and went straight to work creating my first CD entitled "Two Take Away One" and the project was officially completed the day my father passed away. So although I have left out years of pieces of the puzzle that makes me what I am and who I am it should give you enough of my story to understand a little about my life. I'm a very simple person... I respect everyone that respects me, I never judge a person by their color only their character, I believe in giving to those who are truly in need, I believe in protecting the ones that cant protect themselves even if it means giving your own life and I am talking about the elderly, the disabled, the mentally handicapped and the innocents such as kids. And the best quote that I have ever heard was told to me when I was a teen and has stuck with me my whole life and if you have not heard this here it is and maybe it will stick with you..." A best friend is defined as someone who knows everything about you, but still likes you anyway ".. And one more thing I have learned that I want to pass on to you that will help you get through tough times when you have dreams that fall short (and they will).. I have learned to always have 2 dreams going in my mind at all times, this way when one of your dreams falls short you will be able to concentrate all of your time and efforts on the other dream until you can start a new one. And stay away from negative people, try to only hang out with people with positive attitudes..
