I formed my first band when I was a teenager in Wisconsin at Marquette University High School. My College band, The Checkmates, bought a school bus to cart around our equipment and travel around to gigs in the Midwest. What a great way to learn how to drive a stick shift! I didn’t start writing lyrics until I was in college. I chipped away at songs and then really picked up the pace when I found myself traveling a lot with my first jobs. On one flight I had the incredible fortune to sit next to Bob Johnston, a legendary producer at the time who worked with some of my heroes including Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel. Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Aretha Franklin. A fortuitous conversation with him and his encouragement of my work is what I credit for getting me to take my music hobby seriously, and he helped me sign a couple of dozen songs with Nashville’s Shelby Singleton Publishing.

On another flight, I had a two-hour conversation with singer/songwriter Jim Croce. We bonded about both having graduated from Jesuit Universities and, of course, music. He liked some of my lyrics and asked me to send some songs to him and to his manager, also encouraging me to quit my job and pursue music full-time.

Sadly, I never got songs to Jim, as he was killed in a plane crash a month later. But I was impacted by his message and sincerity, and I did leave my sales and training career a year later to relocate to Colorado and perform my music in ski resort towns and the front range, which I did for a few years. I eventually pivoted back to my sales career in order to support my family, so I spent 30 years away from performing with my guitar. However my “retirement” in 2013 brought me back to music, and I am proud to say that I have done over 200 live performances since then. Please email me if you would like to get on my show distribution list – I would love to have you in the audience, and I do take requests!

Now I am excited to fulfill another life dream, the release of my album, “It’s About Time”. I am very blessed for the collaborators that helped this come together and give great thanks to my talented cohort: Gold Record Winner David Snider who produced the album and performed on the keyboard and stringed Instruments, Christian Teele of “E-Town” who did some amazing percussion work, Rock n Roll Hall of Fame inductee Richie Furay of Buffalo Springfield/SHF/Poco who sang and contributed some phenomenal suggestions for harmonies and background vocals. The process and the product have exceeded my wildest expectations. It is indeed, about time!