My story and sound
As a kid, I grew up learning tunes off the record. Beatles, Stones, Cream, Hendrix, Simon and Garfunkel.
Previous to starting guitar at 12, I had a very close relationship with the radio. The Everly Brothers, Ray Charles, Roy Orbison, Elvis, Ella Fitzgerald
I started writing songs when I was 12.
This from was early in the British invasion.
I played lead guitar in a garage band that got gigs in high school. I taught the band the tunes. I sang only one song in that band, an original.
Otherwise my original acoustic material flourished,and I began singing my songs where I could.
When I got to college I met a student who commuted. He played and sang too and within a couple of months we auditioned for a recording contract at a studio in Maynard, MA.. It once was a big movie theatre. We stood in front of one of those legendary Neumann microphones and performed LIVE. I have that recording!
There I met Skunk Baxter who eventually was in the original Steely Dan and then the Doobie Brothers.
Things didn't pan out with the contract we signed. I was fired, but they kept two of my songs and my guitar tracks.
Life in Boston was quite the scene. I played open mics with some gigs there and back home on weekends.
Eventually I tried playing on the street.
An old college buddy call and had gotten free studio time up at the University of Syracuse. I had a caravan of my musicians meet a caravan of musicians my friend assembled up in his neck of the woods.It was quite the rushed project, a long EP. It sounded rushed. I have the recordings.
Soon after I got a mandolin as a Christmas gift from my girlfriend.
Now when I went and played on the street in Boston, people wanted me to play with me. I quickly picked it up on my new instrument, ignoring the guitar for some years.