Music has been a part of my life since I was a little boy. I am constantly inspired by new sounds, ideas and people. The wonderful thing about music is that you can never know everything there is to know. The second of two children, I have always had an audience that I wanted to entertain. My first musical experience goes back when I was very young and my mother was holding me vacuuming the house. She would always listen to classical music whenever doing housework. The "Titus Overture," by Mozart, is the earliest piece I can remember. Even at a very young age, I loved how all the instruments "talked" to one another. From that moment on, I was hooked. At the age of 8, I had the opportunity to start playing cello at elementary school. There was no other instrument that could come anywhere close to the sound the cello produced, which I still believes to be true. The human quality and expressiveness to the instrument is what will always fascinate me about it.
I had the great pleasure to study with a terrific musician and person, Marcy Chanteaux. She taught me the important aspects of music that are overlooked by so many up and coming players. How to actually communicate an idea musically and connect with the listener, is what we focused on. From that point, I studied with William Grubb at Butler University and focused on much more of the technical side of playing. Guitar didn't enter my life until junior year in high school. I always viewed the guitar as a writing and accompaniment tool more than anything. Within weeks of learning the first few chords, I began to write music. While attending Butler University, I began to play in the group, "Kokapelli." We had some decent local success and eventually went our different ways. This experience connected me to several signer/songwriters in the Chicago area such as Justin Roberts, Dag Juhlin, Tommi Zender, Steph Turner, Tony Rodgers and many more. Than the journey to Nashville began. Fellow signer/songwriter, Eric Pressler and I, formed a successful and very busy acoustic duo, "Stickmen Music." We traveled tens of thousands of miles across the United States and learned a lot about music and the music business. After the extended touring schedule, it was time to move on to the next project. I have appeared on worldwide releases from heavy metal band "Iced Earth," children's musician "Justin Roberts," and most recently with the country group "Reedy's Dream."
Currently, I reside in central Indiana with my wonderful wife, Elisa and our three daughters, Claire, Josephine and Anne.