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Musical
Autobiography

I began playing the pedal steel guitar almost 30 years ago, and in that time my perception of the instrument, its capabilities, and my outlook on music have gone through some profound changes.

As a child in the 1950's and 1960's I was surrounded by the big-band music that my parents listened to – Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Micky Finn, Al Hirt – then later the pop music on the radio. I would lay awake at night listening to Petula Clark, the Beatles, Bobby Hebb,and also to the stations that played Aretha Franklin, Bobby Blue Bland, Wilson Picket, and James Brown. Then one night, when I was about 16 years old, in my bedroom listening to an "underground" FM
station, I heard the song "Invocation to OM" by John Coltrane. There was something about that song that drew me to it. I remember the DJ saying that this selection was from the album, John Coltrane: His Greatest Years. The next day I went out to find that album. Around the same time I also happened upon "Ameriques" by Edgar Varese.

When I was thirteen I began playing guitar, and felt a particular affinity for the slide guitar (my inspirations soon became Robert Johnson, Son House, Willie McTell, and Muddy Waters – when I was older I would often go to see Muddy Waters perform in Chicago at Alice's Revisted. What I was struck by was that awesome power and feeling he could evoke with just one note) and dobro (my favorites were Mike Auldridge, Josh Graves, and Tut Taylor).

Later, I was drawn to another slide instrument -- the pedal steel guitar. I loved the sound, the versatility of the instrument, and the way the shining steel bar appeared to float above the strings. After countless hours of feverishly trying to refine my technique, I began to perform regularly with various country- western bands in Texas. As a "steel player" I was expected to know the entire song book of American country music from the mid-1940s onward, and I was expected to know the kick-offs and rides for all these songs by heart – from the old Bob Wills songs to Ernest Tubb, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Ray Price, and countless others. Learning this music note for note was a discipline that I am grateful for. However, at the same time I was attracted to other music which appealed to my deeper sensibilities -- John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and 20th Century classical composers such as Olivier Messiaen, Kzyrztof Penderecki, and Astor Piazzolla, and I sought out other musicians who shared similar sensibilities.

By the late 1980s, after performing straight-ahead jazz for ten years, I took the advice of Paul Bley, with whom I had been corresponding. He told me to throw away the Real Book and play out of tune. I began to develop my own approach to the instrument and to music in general - one that would incorporate the music and the sounds – all music and whatever sound – that affected me. I began incorporating jazz, minimalism, Gamelan Music, Indian Classical music, the folk music of Latin America, birds, wind, clouds, colors, emotions - whatever struck me on a visceral level.

Although I usually perform solo, at times I have also worked with other musicians. The collaborations I most cherish are those with Pauline Oliveros, the late Peter Kowald, Eugene Chadbourne, Chris Cutler, and a few others. I enjoy listening to and playing all music and any music in which I can feel a sense of heart, sincerity, and purpose. I also think that music should address the issues facing humanity and all sentient beings living on this planet. I currently live in Baltimore, Maryland.