I wanted to be Iggy Pop, but when I sang it came out closer to Hobart Smith. So, after playing guitar in punk bands through my teens and twenties, I figured it was time to move on. When I wrote my first songs at age 32, they came out sounding like the traditional folk and country music I heard around the house growing up. Although influenced by Woody Guthrie and Johnny Cash, my songwriting seeks more to continue the narrative folk tradition in a contemporary context, rather than to try and re-create a period sound. My original material focuses on the everyday, combining mature, to the point storytelling with vocals and guitar work that dig into the common ground between Appalachian ballads and contemporary minimalism. The cover in my repertoire ranges from centuries-old unaccompanied ballads to current material.
In 2000, I released my CD, Lonesome and Low-Fi. It quickly received college radio airplay in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida. The album was recorded simply in a few hours at the Jam Room in Columbia SC, without overdubs or multi-tracking. I chose this stripped down approach to stay with my folk and punk roots, and to keep the songs immediate and honest. Southeast Performer Magazine writer Jim Thomas notes that this approach highlights the intimacy of the disk, observing that "the structures are simple and straightforward, the emotions raw and genuine." One track off of the CD, "25," appears on the Acrustic compilation of solo acoustic folk/punk from Vancouver, Canada-based Crusty Records, with distribution in Canada and the United States (contact crusty_records@hotmail.com for additional information).
Since 1998, I have opened for touring acts Fred Eaglesmith, Kevin Kinney, Angie Aparo, The Ex-Husbands, and Mike Ill, while Ill, Christian Anthony, Steven Jackson, and Valorie have opened some of my shows. I have performed at numerous festival stages, and at The New Brookland Tavern, the Elbow Room, and the Art Bar in Columbia SC, the Lakeside Lounge in Raleigh NC, The Cave in Chapel Hill NC, Tasty World in Athens GA, The Lunch Paper in Athens GA, and numerous coffeehouses and Border's Bookstores throughout the Southeast.
Currently, I'm teaching Honors English at Vance High Scool in Charlotte NC. Frankly, right now the kids are more important than my music, and although I'm not touring anymore, you can catch me one Friday a month at Dilworth Coffee House in Charlotte NC.
