Music has always been at the core of my being. I started piano lessons when I was 7 years old. My parents bought me my first acoustic guitar when I was 12, and by the age of 13 I was playing in a band with some friends mostly at school dances and local fundraising events. I joined a high school church folk-singing group  The Grace Youth Singers  when I was in the 8th grade. They were desperate for a guitar/bass player so I got the job in spite of failing to meet the age requirement. I toured throughout eastern Canada with that group over the next few years from Winnipeg Manitoba to Twillingate Newfoundland. This group introduced me to a spiritual life, and in part led to my choice to study theology and eventually become ordained by the United Church of Canada. 

In 2000, I had the privilege of doing studio work on the album My Window to You by my friend and singer-songwriter Stephen Bruce Medd. This songs on this album draw on the indigenous poetry of Pauline Johnson. Several women’s voices are featured on this album, including a 15-year-old Avril Lavigne with my lead guitar backing on Temple of Life.

From 1997 – 2015 I was employed by the United Church in administrative roles, and for many of those years, my life as a musician diminished. But that is changing. From mid-2013 – early-2016, I was lead blues guitarist for The Kim Pollard Band.  The band competed in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis Tennessee in January, 2014.  I have also started writing and producing some songs that can be used by progressive Christian congregations and publish those songs at the Convergence Music Project.

In recent years, my focus has been on solo electric-acoustic performances around Napanee Ontario. Most Saturdays, I have a regular lunch-time gig at Ellena’s Cafe (11-2). My style of acoustic guitar playing is known as “finger-style” — picking the guitar with acrylic-enhanced fingernails in the style of Bruce Cockburn, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Jim Croce … you get the idea. My performances include original songs and covers of songs spanning the last 50 years. I enhance the songs by using a loop pedal which enables me to layer guitar parts, along with a vocal harmonizer which layers my voice.