Tell us a little about you?

Well i was born and raised in Columbia South Carolina and got into music around 10 or so learning to play the guitar and really not enjoying it. I started getting into bluegrass about 16 or so. 

When did you first hear bluegrass?

Wow, queue the flashback music! It was on a rainy Saturday. My best friend Don..yea that Don… and I were stuck in the house because it was raining and we were listening to music. My family was always into music and we had tons of records. We stumbled on an album of my dads called “Songs and Sounds of Bonnie and Clyde” and I dropped the needle on the first song, one that I had never heard and would later learn was the original 1949 release of Foggy Mountain Breakdown. I had played guitar for a few years at that point and I was not enthralled with it since I was playing mostly rock stuff. But when that first chord of Foggy Mountain came on it was like I was hit with a sledge hammer—the sound was so unique and powerful I was hooked and Don and I proceeded to immerse ourselves in the music trying to learn all we could.


What do you love about the music?

There is so much to bluegrass that is to love. I mean there is the sound—its such a combination of things. Anyone who says that bluegrass is a simple music has never really dug into it. The chords may not always be complex but the interplay is, the ebb and flow, the dynamics, the mix of musical influences make it way more than it seems on the surface. But, it’s also the camaraderie. This music is really unique. You can go to any festival and pull out an instrument and sit down with someone you’ve never met and create a sound that is good to listen to. No sheet music, no pretense, just music. That is the real thing with me, the moment you sit and pick with someone you make a new friend and expand the music family a bit more.

Who is someone you would love to pick with?

I’ve had the opportunity to pick with a few of the greats and it’s been fantastic sharing the music and picking up things from them but—it goes without saying, but I will anyway...Earl. I mean I met the man and talked to him but never got to sit down and play with the Grand Master—that would have been great! Also Don Reno and Bobby Thompson. I was still a young picker when both of them passed and I would love to have had the opportunity to sit with them and learn.