My mom and dad gave it to me a long time ago...

I play live with Days Of Rain, but that is a rarity.

It means that the odd person actually listens to my creations.

I started playing guitar while I was in high-school. I learned to play with a horribly ugly Series A electric guitar plugged into an old Traynor amp accompanied by the U2 Rattle and Hum songbook. I can't even begin to guess at how many hours were spent playing along with that CD in my basement. I also had many friends that were into music and I did what I could to glean from their wisdom.

In the early nineties, I played in a couple local bands which were great experiences.

Days Of Rain was formed in 1995, and has ultimately been a musical collaboration among a group of friends. It became an outlet to have fun and be creative. In the last 14 years we've recorded about 6 CDs worth of songs...mostly for friends and family plus a few thousand internet downloads, and we got to play a few really fun gigs at the same time.

I am also a worship leader in my church which has allowed me to explore a different avenue...that is, music and creativity as an expression of worship.

Days of Rain took a brief hiatus in 2008 while my wife was recovering from a bone marrow transplant. She and I were apart quite frequently while she was receiving treatments and I was home working and caring for our 3 year old son. In that time I wrote a few songs that I was not sure would fit with the band and started to track them in my basement. Two of these songs, "Facing The Breakers" and "Life Is Beautiful" are essentially a reflection of the struggles that we were facing as a family during this time.

Aside from playing music and my family, I am also an elementary school teacher which I think is one of the coolest jobs in the world!

My biggest influence is probably U2 (that Rattle and Hum songbook was my study guide while learning to play). In the early-mid 90s when I started to write lots of songs I was listening to bands like Pearl Jam, Counting Crows, Chagall Guevara, Live and The Choir. They were probably big influences on my songwriting. I the last few years I would attribute quite a bit to David Crowder, Dave Matthews, Lifehouse, Coldplay, John Mayer, Jars Of Clay, Common Children and Newsboys...so many others are coming to mind as I type this though...

I've had a Fender American Strat for the last year and a half or so that I absolutely love. I also play an Epiphone Les Paul and a Takamine Acoustic Electric. I have a Line6 PodXT Live for effects that I sometimes run off an old Hughes and Kettner amp that I have had for about 16 years.

For recording, I use Cubase 4 software with a Presonus Firestudio Project, Yorkville monitors, and a bunch of other gear and software.