Interview

1.You've got some great information on yourself on your website, but tell us something about you that we might be surprised to find out.

I’m a pretty boring guy, so there’s not a lot about me that you probably wouldn’t guess…at least I don’t think so. But the one thing that I hear a lot from people who are close to me, is how they react to my musical tastes, in comparison to what I usually write and perform.

There are certain kinds and styles of music that suit my personality, demeanor, voice and perceived image, I guess. And that is usually a very introspective, softer-spoken kind of country, easy listening, AAA genre stuff. Anything in the James Taylor vein usually fits. And a lot of the more upbeat stuff is usually very melodically based.

But I listen to stuff from the far end of the spectrum in relation to that conservative music…stuff that I don’t have the voice or capacity to perform, but it still moves me as a listener anyway. I love ZZ Top, SRV, Kenny Wayne Sheppard, anything that lets the guitar just scream out a cool blues riff. Then I also get into a lot of pop stuff like DMB, Matchbox 20, Vertical Horizon, any current pop stuff, as long as it’s not TOO cookie-cutterish. I still love my old Van Halen (pre-Haggar), Bon Jovi, Metallica, Led Zep…all the “old school” rock and roll that I grew up with. Then, I also get into a lot of Jazz. I love Jazz guitarists! They’re so creative and melodic. Guys like Lee Ritenour, George Benson, Al DiMeola…they just blow me away! And I’ve always had this odd appreciation for a select few classical composers…Mozart, in particular. Not because he’s so well known, but because of the way he composed. Listening to any piece of his will both motivate and frustrate me.

2. Playing the Apollo must have been the thrill of a lifetime. How did this come about, and what were your impressions when you stepped onto that stage?

Basically, the Apollo had run an ad in the local paper, announcing their kind of “roving talent search”, and I thought “Why not.” So I head downtown with my guitar and I walk in and I’m like in a wash of about 200 people, and I’m one of something like 3 white folks there…probably the ONLY person with a guitar!

So I audition and think, “Well, this is me and if they don’t like it, so be it.” But things went well. I sang an original song, a ballad I had written for my wife called “That’s When I Know”. And they asked me to come perform for the live show later that month. Talk about a shock!

The night of the show was really something to remember. Backstage, I got the star treatment (at least for me). During warm ups and sound check, I got to see “how it’s done” in the big time. I mean the sound was so wonderful, the equipment was so overwhelming and the people knew EXACTLY what they were doing.

Then, performance time was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was following several very, very talented vocalists, and the crowd had loved them. Nice R&B stuff, typical for the Apollo’s normal format. Then…it happened…the guy, 2 acts in front of me got boo’d off the stage! I mean the crowd was MEAN! It was like they were in a feeding frenzy or something, like, “Gimme the next one so we can chew him up!” So by then, I was terrified.

So I walk out, rub the Apollo log for good luck (tradition) and head to the mic. As soon as I start walking out, I can hear this really uncomfortable rustling around in the crowd. Then I had to fumble for my chord for the guitar…I couldn’t see a thing but the spotlight in my eyes. That took…probably 5 seconds, but it seemed like 5 minutes. And they told me not to say ANYTHING…just sing. Of course, what do I do? I say something. I’m trying to fill the dead air with a few clever comments, and things are just getting worse. The crowd is getting louder by the second. I start my fingerpicking, slow ballad, sounding very country…and I hear a “What?” here and a “boo” there, and I’m thinking, “Okay, here we go…go ahead and slaughter me.”

Then I start singing, and the whole crowd just comes to a hush. I thought maybe I had done something so bad that they we’re speechless. So I’m waiting for the next wave of boos to sweep me right off into oblivion, but they never came. And at the end, they went nuts, asked me up to New York and everything.

So I guess you could say it was the best and the worst night of my life, all wrapped up into one.

3. Being an independent performer these days can be quite a long road. What have you found to be the best way to reach your audience, and create new fans?

I’ve tried a lot of things to get and keep fans, but by far, the one thing I’ve found is that no matter how clever we are as marketers, no matter how much money we spend or how reputable the publicist is…nothing works like good old fashioned face-to-face getting to know someone.

I decided a while back, that instead of trying to get 10 or 20 new fans at a live show, I would concentrate on ONE person, get to know them, become a friend, sit and talk and hopefully, not just sign them up for the mailing list, but win them to the cause, so to speak. I figure, at the end of the year, if I have 150 new, true friends who believe in me, like me, know me, understand me and truly want to be a part of helping me realize my dreams, I’m in much better shape than if I have 1000 people who vaguely know me and remember me briefly saying “What’s up/sign up/see you” at a gig. Those 150 will be the ones who will buy CDs, tshirts, come to shows, forward emails, post flyers, call radio stations and help do what I could never afford to pay some faceless marketing conglomerate to do instead.

4. Has any one thing become a primary writing influence to you?

Actually, this has been an evolving saga for me. I’ve written songs for years. And I think because of my diverse influences and musical tastes, I’ve always just written what was popping into my head at the time. Lately, though, I’m finally finding my groove and a great deal of enjoyment in writing songs that reflect a combination of a very simple life meshed with a lot of my own memories. I grew up, and still live in a very small town atmosphere. There is a tremendous amount of nostalgia and local pride in the things that are unique to us here in North Georgia. I get a real sense of release, I guess you’d say, by taking some childhood memory and maybe embellishing it a little and putting that into a song. And then the other side to it, is the fact that a lot of the people who would probably never give me a second listen, singing a completely fictional love song, WILL stop and scratch their head at a song about some local landmark. So that helps me to reach out to a broader audience. Then, after they say “hmmm?”, hopefully, they’ll listen for some other familiar stuff, and in the process, find out that maybe I’m not too bad a writer overall.

5. You've chosen the VH-1 Save the Music Foundation. Explain your interest in this cause and what you want people to know about it.

I actually had a good bit of experience in looking for a charitable organization that I believed in. For a previous job, I was looking to align the company with an organization and STMF was one that I found at that time. It was very compelling to me, but not really appropriate for the company that I was with. But I became very aware of how important music education is for our young people and I was really taken with what VH1 was doing in that area. I LOVE music. I LOVED things like band and chorus and stuff like that in middle and high school. And it never crossed my mind that so many schools were considering dropping their music programs because of budget cuts. It’s kind of like a real-life “Mr. Holland’s Opus”. There are financial restrictions in every school system, no doubt. And we all must understand that there are priorities when it comes to passing out budget dollars. Sadly, though, the arts programs are usually the first to get ignored. And understandably, because they are viewed as “extra” programs. But you’d never dream of the high school football team (which isn’t “essential”) feeling the pressure of budget cuts…at least not in the South! Because of the differing views on dispersion of funds, someone had to step in and say “We will help you if you don’t have the money to continue on your own.” And VH1’s Save The Music Foundation did exactly that. It’s a remarkable program that ensures the musical training of our young men and women while they are still willing and interested. It’s a proven fact that if we remove our arts from our schools, we suffer the long term effects. Our children need a creative outlet for self expression. And music is only one, albeit a prominent one, of the programs that encourage and nurture that. The STMF is a program that I believe in and wholeheartedly support. I am thrilled and honored to be a part of what they’re doing!

Featured Charity

VH-1 Save the Music Foundation