I grew up in Shaker Heights, where learning that simple Shaker tune was a requirement in music class. It’s amazing how when you try to find out who you are, you always go back to where you started. A lot has changed for me over the past year and a half; professionally, personally, and emotionally, [...]
There are so many ways that you can manage to undermine your own ability to succeed. You can create an impossible situation for success to exist, like ensuring that you never have enough time to devote to your goal. With this tactic, you end up talking about how much you want to achieve your dreams, [...]
There is an element of performance etiquette that many fantastic players neglect to remember — how to be considerate when sitting-in on someone else’s gig. All too often, folks who are incredible on their instruments show up to sit in with a band or other performer complete with a huge pedal board or other large [...]
I suppose it’s a compliment. They say that the way you know you are a good musician is if you make it look easy. I had a guy come up to me at a show last year and ask if he could play my fiddle. Mind you, I was aware he was drunk, but I [...]
I have come to realize that songwriting has to be one of the most intriguing and gratifying things that I have ever done. I had no idea when I wrote my first song with lyrics how it would affect me. I found that I was incredibly protective of it. I did not leave snippets of [...]
I need some doors. I don’t mean the proverbial kind, like doors that lead to opportunities, I mean doors made of wood, or perhaps a combination of wood and glass. Maybe something with a nice bit of detail, or etching on the glass. I have realized that while it’s great to push yourself beyond your [...]
Recently, I was having a conversation that I have had several times over the course of my career. Always with different people, but the gist is the same: why is it that people who would not ask for free merchandise from a craftsman, do not hesitate to ask for talent to be given away for [...]
I feel incredibly fortunate – I am able to do what I love for a living, with a fantastic support system and what feels like unlimited opportunities. I think about the things that have come to pass for me to be in this place, right now, and I am overwhelmed by it all. I was [...]
Jim gave me a CD with a few new songs we are working on, and among them was a recording he’d made with some of the other guys he has played with over the years. It’s a big jam tune, and if you’ve been to one of our shows, you know the one I mean. [...]
