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My dad had a friend with a big garage and a big stereo. When I was 12 years old and trying to figure out what music was cool to listen to and what was not, this guy would invite me over on a Friday night to listen to Bruce or Buffalo Springfield or Mark Knopfler while sitting in secondhand recliners. His garage was the first place I saw The Last Waltz and the first place I learned how to operate a turn table. He taught me to really love a good story (and a good stereo).
Around that same time, my dad gave me a piece of a guitar. It was the body from one of his own and he wanted me to sand it down. In the end, we ended up with a Frankensteined Strat made from different pieces of his instruments: a bridge from the garage, an ebony neck from his old guitar, some tuners from a box and a headstock that my mom had signed and branded before I was born. Since I only got a piece of it at first, it sure made me appreciate the rest of the guitar when it arrived.
My dad is the one who taught me my first chord and convinced me that I couldn’t hire someone to tune my guitars: that I’d simply have to learn to do it myself. And it was his studio where I recorded my earliest EP and full-length albums with my first bands.
These days, my entourage has increased. I married the first girl I ever wrote a song for and we have a son. We also found a new friend in Aberdeen (of all places) with secret piano powers. After a summer’s worth of songwriting sessions and a new drummer, our parade was ready to march into the studio. Within a few months we had a 4-song EP that we were proud of and enough material to keep us busy on a full album.
Tom Waits says a gentleman is someone who can play the accordion but doesn’t. Well, we’re looking for a new breed of gentleman. With a garage full of guitars, accordions, banjos, organs and doors that slam in tune, we’re looking to make a record that both Mr. Waits and Mr. Knopfler would be proud of.
My dad’s in the band, my wife’s in the band, my friends are in the band. My 14-year old brother may even sit in on occasion. (And he’s good.) With five brothers and two sisters, there’s plenty of stories to go around and there’s nobody better to play music with than your own flesh and bone.
If you get a copy of our record, I hope you’ll find yourself with a free evening, a secondhand recliner and a big stereo.
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