The first music I came across was classical and it remains something I listen to on a daily basis. At the age of 10 I discovered Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, Ray Charles and a few more. At age 13 I got to see Ray Charles live. At 16 I heard Josh White which really turned my head. At 17 I was playing Jansch. At 18 I wasn’t playing at all and didn’t until age 27 when someone gave me a beat up old six string. Living in the North East I started to go to folk clubs in the region and met up with various guitar players such as Duck Baker, John James and XXXXXX. I even got to join one or two of them on stage at their request – the best one being me playing resonator slide guitar along with Mick Doonan on pipes and his band. I gigged occasionally at clubs and a few festivals.
I moved out to New Zealand and started playing professionally and got to be known as a blues player. I played several national tours as a solo artist, summer tours as a solo along with two bands on the same tour. I played at Festival and blues gigs, on TV and have three CD’s in the National Library of New Zealand. Whilst living in New Zealand, I organised several UK tours touring from Portsmouth to Aberdeen. On the way over/back I would stop off and do the occasional gig in the US and did some session work in San Francisco.
Today I play anything that is played on guitar and comes from America – from Josh White’s In My Time of Dying to my arrangement of Five Foot Two. I am totally a finger-style player and also play slide. Known mostly as a blues player, I like to think I am more than that. I play a lot from the Appalachia which includes The Carter Family and Doc Watson as well as Blind Blake. I do play blues from the various regions but also include Merle Travis and Bill Williams from Kentucky along with Chet Atkins – I even play a piece of Bach in honour of an old friend.