Never in a million years would I have believed that I'd end up playing fiddle in a Bluegrass/Oldtime band, let alone singing. Growing up in California in the 60s & 70s, it was all Rock & Roll. But Los Angeles Radio back then was pretty progressive, so I was also hearing country rock. The Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco, The Byrds, The Dillards, and of course The Eagles, all used banjo and fiddle to some degree or another.

So through the din of  radio pop hits, it was really the country flavored melodies and instrumentation that was seeping in to my subconscious, and I found myself being more drawn to the music as I got older. Somewhere along line, I heard Michael Doucet on Prarie Home Companion playing Cajun fiddle, and the dark, minor sounding melodies really caught my ear. I guess that was the first time that I considered trying to learn how to play fiddle. Then I saw Alison Krauss on Austin City Limits in the early nineties, and her smoother sounding style of Bluegrass made me think that maybe this stuff wasn't so bad after all.

So at the age of 34, I finally jumped in headfirst and started taking fiddle lessons. I'm finding that the longer I play this music, it's the earlier, grittier sounding stuff that I'm being drawn to in my playing. So I guess it's come full circle. Maybe the rough, bluesy, old-time fiddle sound could be considered the Rock & Roll of acoustic music... Hey, it's possible.