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I've always been interested in music, and playing some
kind of instrument has almost always been somewhere near
the top of my list. The
first one I can remember is a little uke. Below, and to
the right is a photo with me all decked out in a cowboy
outfit, holding that little 4-string beauty. Next was a
steel guitar which I was learning while living in Houston
Texas.
I switched over to electric 6-string while I was in high
school. I think my first guitar came out of a Sears catalog.
Then, I started playing in rock groups just out of high
school. If I remember correctly, the first group was the "We
Who Are". We had the typical lead, rhythm, bass and drums. We
also had a fantastic sax player named Freddy Belch. I wonder
where he is.
The next group was the Ice Cream Social. This was a cool
group! Come to think of it, I believe we patterned ourselves
after "Luvin' Spoonful". We even had an autoharp player! We
played at various college town hangouts, including the
famous(?) Ratskeller in Oberlin Ohio. I had graduated to the
Gretch Tennessean by this time, and was experiencing what
turned out to be the height of my young career. Not long after
this point, I got married to Sandy, and I'm still with the
same great girl after a whole bunch of years. I wouldn't have
it any other way.
My playing, or at least performing was put on hold for a long
time while we raised a family, but the music didn't die. It
was in 1976 that I decided to trade in the Gretch for the
Guild D55 NT that I have today. Over the next several years, I
got involved in all kinds of music, including bluegrass. I
bought a Fender Leo 5-string banjo, and had a ball playing it.
In fact, I taught bluegrass banjo, and finger style guitar for
a couple of years at a local music store called Ron Zehel
Guitar Land in Amherst Ohio. I even tried my hand at the
fiddle and mandolin.
I've continued with the flat top over the years, and that
forms the basis for the endeavor I'm involved in now. Getting
back on the "road" has been a blast, and I'll continue doing
it as long as they'll have me. I've even begun introducing
some songs I wrote back in the early to mid 80s.
I continue to write music now, several years into the
rebirth of my music "career". At this point, I've released 6
albums, and I'm working on the 7th. There are at least 3 or 4
left in me. We'll see. The way I see it is this, I may have
gotten a late start, but it's a heck of a way to wind down.
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