Acoustic singer/songwriter with pop-rock sensability and hints of Bebo Norman, Glen Phillips and Caedmon's Call

14 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Modern Folk, ROCK: Folk Rock



Details:
I was born and raised in a little farming town in northern Illinois called Walnut. In fact, I even grew up on Walnut Street in Walnut, IL. I was fortunate enough to be brough up in a fairly musical house. My dad was a seasoned musician who had traveled all over the country before eventually finding himself as the pastor and worship leader at Walnut Community Bible Church (the church I have attended my whole life). My mom was an accomplished pianist, she taught piano lessons and helped my dad with the worship at church. As a result of my parents musical affinity (especially my dad) I was surrounded by great, great music. As a kid I was bombarded by stuff like the Beatles, Buffalo Springfield, Poco, Traffic, Cream, and the Yardbirds to name a few. It was only a matter of time before I found myself chasing the muse.

After several false starts, I finally picked up the guitar early in 8th grade year. I spent hours upon hours alone in my room banging out HORRIBLE renditions of Beatles tunes. My parents were dreading the thought of having to tell me I was tone-deaf. Lucky for them I started to get the hang of it. Throughout my high school years I became obsessed and spent every spare minute trying to copy the guitar chops of Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, Albert King, Eric Clapton, Albert Collins, Chris Duarte, and a slew of other blues guitarists.

After high school I attended Greenville College, near St. Louis, MO. There I began spending more and more time on the acoustic guitar and began developing as a songwriter. At this point I fell in love the songwriting of Bebo Norman, Derek Webb (Caedmon's Call), John Gorka, James Taylor, and David Wilcox, among others. However, after only three semsters I decided that Greenville wasn't the place for me and went back home, recorded a CD, and spent the next year and a half playing music as much as I possibly could. This meant playing coffeehouses, colleges, and churches throughout the midwest while at the same time playing in a local band with my oldest brother.

In the fall of 2002 it was time to move on, so I made the move to Nashville. I came to Tennessee and began attending Lipscomb University in order to finish my degree while I continued to work on my music. Now, I have release a new CD project called "...On Faith and Love".

This new album is very exciting for me. I believe it is a huge leap forward from my last project. It is a journal of the last three years of my life. All of the songs are reflective of my relationships and experiences in that time. From "Allison's Song", written about my niece, to "Waiting" a song about questioning God's timing, the songs are built around the two key aspects that govern all of our lives...faith and love.