BIO

From Washington DC to Nashville

I was a child of the ‘60s, teen of the ‘70s, college student of the '80s. Born in a hospital that no longer exists, only blocks from the White House. In fact, none of the schools I attended (elementary through high school) exist anymore either—except for the universities I hopped around for my undergraduate degree in Psychology.

Playing in the creeks around our wooded neighborhood covers most of my early memories. Soccer and basketball and church youth group with my brothers dominate my teen-year memories.

I am second-born of four brothers, raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. Always aloof and indecisive, I had too many interests to narrow into a career goal. Medicine? Marine biology? Teacher? As a teen I wrote songs to sing at church with my brothers and with youth group friends, so I thought maybe a songwriting career might pan out one day.

At age 23, spinning my wheels and taking a break from college classes, I moved to Music City, USA, a.k.a. Nashville TN, to see if music was an option. I traveled the country playing music for various youth camps and college retreats, which meant lots of beach time and ski trips! It was soon full-time work, if you can even call it ‘work.’ There was way too much fun involved—snorkeling, beach volleyball, skiing, snowboarding, hiking, etc. with a little bit of guitar strumming tossed in.

My then Nashville roommate suggested I record some of my songs for the ‘camp kids.’ He was pursuing a career as a record producer, so his skills and my song hunches turned into my first indie CD that I carried around the country in the trunk of my car to sell to students at camps and retreats.

Somehow, a copy of that CD got into the hands of a brand new record label without an artist (Rocketown Records) who offered me a recording deal to be their first artist. I said yes. 4 studio CDs, a few specialty CDs, numerous tours and radio hits later, I signed with another label (Eb+Flo/Sony) and expanded my reach into other radio formats with a few more CDs and charting radio singles, which kept me touring all over the U.S., in every state except Alaska and Hawaii. (You’re on my radar!)

Don’t worry, I don’t sit cloistered in my studio or writing room being creative all day long. I’m too restless for that! All the woods-exploring and creek-hopping from my childhood are still my biggest interests—there’s no better place for a creative person to be inspired!