Music has always been a large part of my life. I started singing in church at the age of 5, started playing guitar at the age of 13, and somewhere along the line I taught myself a little bit of piano.

My brother was going into the music ministry and my parents encouraged him to learn guitar before he got to college. My dad played guitar growing up and had a Fender electric guitar and amp. My brother didn't pick it up, so I did...... originally just to mess around on something that used to be off limits. But I started teaching myself music by ear. I'd listen to a song and figure out the notes and chords on my own.

My parents bought my first guitar for me from the Sears catalog. It was a strange looking shape, but exactly what I wanted.

I played in a band in high school called First Degree. We were originally formed to play for a school-wide talent show. We covered a couple of "hair band" songs and became so popular that we got invited to play at the ninth grade dance. Woo hoo! I could smell the platinum!

After that VERY short stint, I realized my dad's 50 watt amp and my el-cheapo guitar wouldn't cut it anymore. So I worked, saved some money, and bought an Ibanez electric with a Floyd Rose tremolo and a Crate combo amp that pushed 150 watts. Now I was in business!

I impressed folks at college with my playing and once woke everyone up from their Saturday morning slumber with my amp cranked up. Needless to say, I got a visit from the RA. But all he said with a smile was,"Dang, that's loud!"

I took a couple of semesters of classical guitar which helped me with my finger picking. Later, I joined some guys to form Ground Zero, a Christian rock band. We played throughout the Tyler area with some degree of success. So we recorded an EP with Robin Hood Bryans - the man responsible for engineering ZZ Top's first three albums. I bought another Ibanez guitar and a Crate half stack while playing with them.

At the same time our college group started meeting at our Sunday school teacher's house for a time of worship on Sunday nights. What started with about 15 people, grew to over 70 in attendance at times.

Eventually the band broke up. I started to pursue music on my own and even recorded a solo album where I played and sang everything except for the drums. Dumb on my part, but you know what hindsight is.....

I thought of moving to Nashville, but that idea got squashed quickly and career began to outweigh music. I was transferred to Dallas with my job and din't have the time to mess with music. Luckily, I was able to find a new job that afforded me the "9 to 5" that I needed.

After a short hiatus from playing, I started leading worship at my church for various groups and would occassionally do a retreat for other churches. And that's where I'm at today.