Music


Painting and music have always gone hand in hand for me, and I have pursued both for nearly my entire life. I have chosen to make my living primarily from painting, but continue my exploration of roots music as a parallel. On guitar, it has always been early Country blues and Ragtime fingerstyle guitar focusing on the styles of people like Robert Johnson, Blind Blake, Reverand Gary Davis,Tampa Red and others. The originals I write are closely related to this style also. On banjo, I have focused on the early Southern Clawhammer styles, particuarly West Virginia and Roundpeak style Banjo, and on Ukulele, I seem to be stuck playing a lot of the Tin Pan Alley music and tunes I heard growing up. I'll soon be trying to finish up a new solo record incorporating all of these sounds. I also plan to start posting MP3 clips of some of the new recordings very soon on this page so you can keep in touch with what I am doing in this area.

I have played solo shows all over the Northeast and the South, into Colorado and also Italy,mostly in the Tuscany region. Over the years I have opened shows or shared the stage with such notable musicians as Taj Mahal, Dave Van Ronk, David Bromberg, John Hammond, Elizabeth Cotten, Pat Donahue, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, Jimmie Dawkins, Dan Hicks, J Geils band, Nickolette Larson, my good friends Paul Geremia, Paul Rishell and John Mooney among many others. I got to record 3 CD's with the band Roll and Tumble with which I played with for nearly nine years.The last one we did, called Rattle that thing" also features John Mooney on some cuts. Hear some tunes here.

I have dabbled with building my own instruments since the early 80's and have built a number of my own guitars and banjos. In recent years I have been building a few more under the watchful eye of Julius Borges, who as the owner of Borges Guitars in Little Ma. probably builds some of the finest instruments on the planet.I completed buiding my 11th guitar (a Rosewood 000 cutaway style 12 fret) and play that consistantly in my Florida shows. I recently put the finishing touches on a Brazilian Rosewood"Gibson Style" 185. There is also a Gibson Style J35 that is just being finished up and that may well be my last one as I just don't seem to have the time for this any more. I think I would rather spend my time playing. I also have an Artist relationship with National Resophonic Guitars in San Luis Obispo which are still my favorite instruments of all to play, and I work hard to promote their guitars on all of my shows. I will always have at least three of these on stage with me at any show. They have built me several exquisite instruments, including a new "Custom Style O Ukulele" which is incredible to say the least, not to mention a Custom Estralita Baritone 12 string made out of Flamed Walnut and is a "one of a kind" instrument. You can hear me playing this guitar on their website media soundclips: http://www.nationalguitars.com/admin/mp3comparedeploy/soundclips.html.

They have just completed an El Trovador Custom Baritone guitar for me made out of Master Grade flamed maple that I should have in just a few weeks. That will be the guitar that I will be using for all of the Blind Willie McTell and Leadbelly style music.

I am looking forward to a Winter of playing music in the South both solo and with some South Florida muscians.

I have recently released ny newest CD, my first in over eight years. It is titled "Down in Blue" and features music from deep Delta blues to Ragtime styles and a handful of original tunes. It features musicians from both Florida and New England including Barry Johnson on second and lead guitar, Bill Koetting on Acoustic Bass, Roger Ebacher on Congas, Scott Shetler on clarinet, Justin Quinn on harp, Joyce Anderson on Fiddle and harmony vocals and Jon Ross on Bass, Mandolin and who is also the producer of this record. Copies can be purchased direct by emailing this site and will soon be available on CD Baby and itunes, along with local music stores. Price is 15.00.

***It is with great sadness that my bass player and great friend in Florida Bill Koetting has passed away after a long battle. I am honered to have played and recoreded with him and to have been his friend. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him.