Biography

Ive always loved music. The radio was on a lot when I was a kid growing up, and there have always been songs and rhythms in my head. I was in the school chorus and band. I played the trumpet, until my freshman year in high school. The next three years I had not musical outlet beyond singing with the radio.
I started playing guitar during my first year of college in 1991. My brother Todd gave me a guitar he bought at a yard sale for $10.00. My roommate was a good guitar player, and he showed me a few chords. I loved it right from the start. Of course, for the first few years I played everyone would leave the room if I picked it up. Eventually I started learning some songs, and I reached the point where I could strum and sing at the same time. I was learning Neil Young, some Guns and Roses, and a lot of Mark Lanegan and Screaming Trees.
I tried songwriting early on, but I was continually frustrated. I could create guitar parts that I liked and lyrics that were OK, but the melodies were always terrible. I was still learning a lot, and having fun though.
I had my first performance experience after I had been playing for about three years. I played at an open mic in Bar Harbor with a friend I worked with there. We played and sang Plush by the Stone Temple Pilots and Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. It was probably awful to listen to, but folks applauded and I loved it. After that night I continued to look for chances to play open mics. Some were better than others, but they were all fun.
Over the years I developed enough of a song list to start playing out in the local pubs. I played covers of Alice in Chains, Radio Head, Mad Season, Blind Melon, and many others. I added a few originals that werent completely awful. I even played in a heavy metal band during one spring semester at the University of Maine. My vocal work improved, but I was still not happy with the songs I was writing.
After I had been playing for over ten years I finally had a breakthrough. I had several life changing events happen all within a relatively short time. I got a divorce, I saw Greg Brown perform, and I met my second wife, and I had my first child. Suddenly, through the emotional turmoil, the stress, the joy, the excitement, and after discovering music that was simple truth and story telling in Greg Brown, I started writing songs I was proud of.
These songs were simpler, and more honest. These songs were true to what I knew from my life experiences. Within a year I penned over a dozen songs. Some were all new, where others were created using guitar parts I had never been able to do anything with. I kept writing, and I started playing them more at gigs.
About this same time I teamed up with a harmonica player named Bruce McKeen. We formed a duo called Jeezum Crowe. We played mostly my original work with a few classic blues and folk tunes thrown in. We had a lot of fun, and we played some very respectable venues in our area. But after about two years we went our separate ways.
Last winter (05-06) I finally reached the point where, thanks to support from my wife Molly, I could afford to record my first album. I called on Justin Ward. He is a good friend, and an excellent percussionist. Justin has jammed with Ray LaMontagne, and he recorded for Red Kite Records with Kreg Viesselman. Justin brought in his friend Steve Pullan. Steve plays banjo, mandolin, slide guitar, harmonica, jaw harp, and even a little fiddle. We got together for three days in December at Studio E Z in Freedom, Maine. Ezra Rugg did the recording, added the bass, then mixed, and mastered the CD. I had it duplicated at Five Masks Multimedia in Portland. Now its finally here and ready for sale. Please let me know what you think of it.