Welcome to my music site. I am a singer and songwriter who also enjoys sawing on the fiddle and playing the mandolin. I also play guitar and anything with 4 strings tuned in 5ths such as the octave mandolin or tenor banjo.

In terms of genre, I prefer traditional styles of music. One listener characterized the manner in which I sing my own songs as "straight-ahead folk," which sounds about right to me. I can also move my singing style in the direction of commercial country music or old Appalachian ballads, but that's about the extent of my singing styles. When fiddling or playing other instruments, my preferred genre is usually called "old-time music." Of course, there many "old" kinds of music out there, so a more precise description might be "old-time Appalachian string band music." Old-time music is traditional music of the Appalachian region, although today it is played more widely, including in places outside the United States. Old-time music has two broad divisions. The more popular of the two is fiddle tunes, typically played at a brisk tempo suitable for flatfoot, contra, or square dancing. Old-time music also includes old songs, mostly gloom-and-doom ballads, but this side of the music is much less common than the fiddle tunes. The origins of these tunes and ballads is mainly the British Islands, so American old-time music is a cousin of the various styles of traditional music in England, Ireland, Scotland, and adjacent areas. I also play Irish fiddle tunes in a basic style.

Those unfamiliar with the varieties of traditional music, including many musicians, often erroneously refer to the types of music I play as "bluegrass." I usually lack the energy to try and explain that that I rarely ever play bluegrass. But I will attempt an explanation here. If you do not know the difference between bluegrass and old-time music, click here for a straightforward explanation that includes a definition of old-time music. I dabbled in bluegrass when I was in college but never felt a strong attraction to it.

What does old-time music sound (and look) like? If you do not know you might want to watch this short video of a typical low-key daytime scene at a festival. It is a good example of both the music and one style of dancing (flatfooting). At night, the intensity of the music usually increases. To the left is a video of a typical jam session, except that the setting is indoors. It is from the Gardner Winter Music Festival, 2009. See the "Videos" page of this site for more examples of old-time music (and other varieties of music).

For a more thorough look at old-time music, to the right is a thirty-minute documentary from West Virginia Public Broadcasting. The only odd thing about the video, in my view, is a strong preservationist mentality--as if the video makers are seeking to justify the Clifftop gathering as propagator of culture. Perhaps the festival does fulfill such a function at some level, but I suspect that most folks who play music there do so mainly for enjoyment. There is no need to worry about "passing on" the music, because the sheer enjoyment of it guarantees that old-time music will remain a vigorous cultural tradition.  Especially insightful is what John Lily says toward the end of the video about getting into the music deeply.

For many years, songwriting had been on my list of things to do, and I finally got around to it at the start of 2007.  I've written a bunch of them at this point. Most could fit into a label like "country music" or "folk music"--broadly defined. Some sound like something you might hear on country radio and others would have less of a popular appeal. My main purpose in writing is to create songs I like to sing. A few of them might have wider appeal.

Thank you for stopping by, and feel free to send a message.