STREET SINGING /
All of you buskers: street serenaders, and performers, keep resisting the over-reaching laws that attempt to prevent street singers, and performers from doing what they do: performing their craft in the public spaces for others to experience and take pleasure from. In the spirit of Thoreau, go out and make your life and views known, as they were meant to be, despite impediments, road blocks, bad laws, societal constraints. Just the presence of your performance, in the public marketplace, is a very necessary and laudable endeavor. Many municipalities lump us in with solicitors, thus making it a misdemeanor to perform on public streets. Do not submit.
Influences
It's odd that after many years of writing and playing, I'm just realizing the influence gospel music has had on me, growing up in a Southern Baptist church, every Sunday...until I was old enough to make a break. The music became embedded. Another recent realization when it comes to my influences is the whimsy and comedy of writers like John Prine, Roger Miller, Chuck Berry. And the country influences of people like George Jones and Jimmy Rogers. But my dad had this quirky, whimsical side to him. I think that, combined with other musical influences caused me to write, often, in a light-hearted humorous way. My music and playing has been influenced by every good, and great musician I have ever heard. Especially, local musicians, like Hank & Jack, Irish & Eversole, Neil Woodward, Al Carmichael, Wooden-Leg Johnny, and so many more. The folk songs of Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Elizabeth Cotton, Judy Collins, Nancy Griffith; along with an all time favorite; Emmy-Lou Harris. And let's not forget the newer arrivals to that genre: DeMent, Welch [David Rawlings is a killer guitar man]. I love the deep blues and jazz of Billy Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Mississippi John Hurt & Taj Mahal are fathers of mine. And it was Joe Williams who said, "the best thing you can do if you want to sing, is go out and sing." I have never been one to sit and try and emulate an artist, though I sang along with Elvis on record when I was nine. I've let music just sink into me, and if it has a deep affect, it's bound to come out in some fashion that at least partly resembles that persons performance, in my own mind, that affected me so much. I wrote a rash of songs after seeing Steve Forbert in concert back in 1979. He's a my age, and while he was in New York City in his early twenties, recording his first albums, and touring, I was in Pontiac, Michigan dreaming of living his life.
Sounds Like
Nobody you've ever heard. My music has deep roots, with many branches. I have a distinct style that is all my own. Check out my influences, but listen to my music, my words, my humor, my stories, my travels. Yet, I stand on the shoulders of many.
I was born and raised in the land of lakes, dunes and motors. My roots are from the land of cotton, red earth and maize. My parents are from Alabama, like many generations before them. My father's mother is from Star City, Arkansas. I was born and raised in Michigan after that war between the worlds. I'm a third generation carpenter and third generation singer. My father and mother did really well going from a life on the farm, to running a family business: underground contracting. Only to see my father lose his life after reaching a great plateau. That event alone has caused me to turn to music for solace, much more than I ever would have had he lived. So, at times there is a lot of sadness in my songs, but at the same time I like to think I have kept the joy my father shared with me in his life, and my own joy of life, alive in my songs. I am a recovering codependent. It is the major struggle of my life. All in all, I am well. I consider mine, a privleged life.
