My musical disposition has been informed by what I've absorbed from the streets and small venues of New Orleans, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco; from the front porches and juke joints of the Mississippi Delta; from the old records I'd find at the public library and the sounds of my hometown jazz radio station, KCSM. What gets me most is music being made in a particular moment, embracing environment, imperfections and limitations, musicians playing not to package a product but for the muse...

I grew up in San Mateo, California, making music with my first and best friend, neighbor, and guitar hero David Giannini. 

We busked our parents' dinner parties and neighborhood Happy Hour gatherings, and in bedrooms and garages we recorded ourselves on a Tascam 4-track; these performances and demos were all highly regarded--alas, none of the tapes survived. 

I also sang doowop and formed boy bands with friends to croon to our crushes and serenade our sweethearts.

After high school, I began working as a singer/songwriter in San Francisco, playing cafes, night clubs, cocktail parties and art galleries, and I wrote and recorded a studio album I titled Entelechy. The experience was constructive but ultimately saw me reluctant to continue the career trajectory and newly intent on embracing simplicity, idiosyncrasy, and intimacy as hallmarks of my music. Inspired by the great bluesmen and an indefatigable tap-dancing impresario at the Powell Street cable car turnaround, I returned to busking and playing guerrilla gigs, writing and recording for various Bay Area artists, and was half of the short-lived but seminal Punk Crunk duo ZOO.

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Years of wayward troubadouring followed. I made recordings on rooftops and street corners and in gardens and boudoirs, using GarageBand and the built-in MacBook microphone or an old Tascam and a single Shure SM57, and a parlor guitar, Telecaster, keyboard, or whatever instruments were accessible to me at the time. While I do tend to favor a more minimalist production value, it's never necessarily been my intention to affect (or effect) a punk ethos with recordings; I'm just doing the best I can with what I've got.

My recorded music is available for purchase here, and can also be streamed on all the major platforms; additional content (eww) can be found on my personal Youtube channel. Live performances may or may not be announced here. For private bookings, please drop a line in the Contact section.

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Some abiding musical inspirations include Mary Lou Williams, Skip James, Charlie Christian, Leroy Carr, Memphis Minnie, Professor Longhair, Billie Holiday, Roger Miller, Miles Davis, Elliott Smith, Anthony Hamilton, Amy Winehouse, John Lee Hooker, James Brown, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Lead Belly.

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