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.

To Mark and Wayne, I owe a great debt of happiness. I am a better person for having known them. Making music will do that.

2016: Rinn Netherton at The Ethical Society, Clayton, Missouri

August 14, 2016: The Ethical Society in Clayton, Missouri, regularly has musicians perform as part of their gatherings. On this occasion, I was honored to accompany Rinn Netherton on the fiddle tune "ITOTFIOG" (short for "Is There Old-Time Fiddling in Other Galaxies") by Marc Rennard. Marc and Rinn are two of the best, most natural musicians I've had the pleasure of knowing.

2016: Rinn Netherton and Lukas Simpson at The Blue Pearl, St. Louis - Tipping Back The Corn

April 30, 2016: The Blue Pearl was a beautiful little bar on Cherokee Street in St. Louis. Its owner, the equally beautiful Julie Somer, wrapped the St. Louis old-time community in a bear hug and let us play music there. Here, Lukas Simpson and I join Rinn Netherton for a rousing version of "Tipping Back The Corn," a Jordan Wankoff tune.

2017: The Log Cabin Boys on FOX 2, St. Louis - Gentle On My Mind

December 29, 2017: Back when community radio station KDHX was something St. Louis could be proud of, I helped organize a concert to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the birth of John Hartford. The Log Cabin Boys were kind enough to let me play along with them. The day before the show, we got to perform on FOX 2's morning show. Here we do John's signature song, "Gentle On My Mind."

2017: The Log Cabin Boys on FOX 2, St. Louis - Where Does An Old-Time Riverman Go?

December 29, 2017: As part of our TV appearance to promote John Hartford 80th Birthday Tribute show, The Log Cabin Boys got to perform one of the most beautiful songs John wrote, "Where Does An Old-Time Riverman Go?". It's lyrics are poetry.

The Lonesome Pines at Off Broadway, St. Louis

I forget what year this was, maybe 2016, but it was another John Hartford Tribute show, this one at Off Broadway in St. Louis. The Lonesome Pines are some of the finest string players in St. Louis. As with The Log Cabin Boys, I was honored and tickled that they let me sit in with them on their set.