ME, PLAYING MUSIC
"Plays Well With Others"
I enjoy playing music more than most other things I do. I especially enjoy it when I get to play with other people. I started out as a guitar strummer, playing first for guitar masses at church, then as part of a summer camp folk group, and finally as a misunderstood folk singer (is there any other kind?) at open mike nights. I owe the musician I am to the influence of everyone I've played with, but especially to two people:
- Mark "Pete" Nelson, my high school classmate, invited me to accompany him on "Mr. Bojangles" for talent show our junior year. A fledgling but dedicated banjo player at the time, Mark introduced me to bluegrass, playing Hartford's Aereo-Plain, Old & In The Way, and the first Will The Circle Be Unbroken? albums for me. Mark got me started.
- Multi-instrumentalist Wayne Schell was performing a Hartford-like one-mand show called Rowdy Ol' River Tunes when we first met. For some reason (I don't know what), he saw something in me that told him "He'd be fun to play with." Wayne continued my bluegrass education, expanding it to include the close harmony singing style of the Louvin Brothers, and started indoctrinating me to old-time fiddles tunes and stringband music.
Mark passed away in February of 2013. Wayne died on February 2nd, 2026. To Mark and Wayne, I owe a great debt of happiness. I am a better person for having known them. Making music with good friends will do that to a person. Mark and Wayne were two of the best.
