When I was a child I loved to lie on the living room floor and listen to my father's records especially his Johnny Cash albums. I would sit for hours and listen over and over to those songs. During the day I would recite song lyrics to my friends. When I got my own record player, I spent most of my money on 45s and LPs. I would lie in bed at night and listen to the local AM station, WARK, in Hagerstown, Maryland.

In the third grade, I started playing the violin. I remember vividly the day John Frank and I stood on the stage and played a duet for the parents of the school, my first public performance. When I was eighteen and in the Air Force, I became friends with someone who played the guitar. I had tried for many years to play, but had never quite got the hang of it. I decided once and for all that this time I would learn.  That was many years ago, and I haven't stopped playing since. I didn't know where my playing would take me, but I learned what I could and practiced what I knew.