Eight years old in St. Louis, playing piano, practicing reluctantly every day.  At 17 I was ripping off Grieg’s A Minor and Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag.  When the banjo landed in my lap I went to work, and abandoned the keys for a while.  By high school graduation I was “chasing” Earl Scruggs.  Reluctantly finishing up college, and picking up the pedal steel along the way, I then went to work playing with almost any band I could find, looking for the best, and making a living at it for about 20 years.  Gradually I began to write down lyrics, much of which is in this album, that spoke of the various scenarios and stages of life in which I found myself.  At some point, these songs seemed to make sense to me, but when I began to record them, and I found myself cringing at the sound of my own recorded voice, I found a vocal coach who just wanted me to sing the way I was meant to.  Many thanks to Pat Colgan who worked with me to turn out this album way more fine than I would
have done myself.  And certainly not least, immense appreciation to my wife Amba and daughter Mariel, without whose absolute support this project would never have been completed.