Hey there. Thanks for stopping by.

I’m a longtime songwriter and released my first album, Rose of Jericho, in 2020. It was named Album of the Year at the 2021 New Mexico Music Awards, and won some other awards as well, which was cool.

My second album, Durable Goods, came out in November, 2023 to some applause and nice local radio play.

And (cue fanfare) I’ve just released my latest album, Night Letter and I’m stoked by how it turned out. If you haven’t already, please give it a listen.

BIO STUFF

I was born and raised in Southport, Indiana, a couple of generations removed from my family’s Jackson County farm. Music was always part of our life. My mother, a graphic artist, played piano and sang in church choirs. My father, a California-born salesman with wide-ranging tastes, brought home library records—Leadbelly, Skip James, Billie Holiday, and other blues greats. And my older brother, whose ears I’ve always trusted, introduced me to lots of great artists.

Like most of my friends, I was a basketball-obsessed kid. But limited skills led to getting cut from the high school team—freeing up time to pick up my brother’s old Stella guitar and start learning to play.

Influenced by folk, rock and the era’s singer-songwriters, I soon began writing and singing my own songs. Through high school and college, I played solo and in bands, sometimes for rooms full of people, but mostly not.

Armed with an art degree and few discernible skills, I moved to Colorado, went back to school, and began teaching. That eventually led to many years in Denver, where I worked in education and kept making music. I was a longtime member of The Schoolboys—a dance band with the motto “Songs you love played by people you like.” We lived up to it.

These days, I live in the high desert outside Santa Fe. Alongside making records and playing shows, I’m also a rug weaver, running Estambre Studios with my wife, Linda.

Our handwoven wool rag rugs are available locally at Luca Decor gallery on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. They’re quite nice.

And I’m still chasing the same things I was when I picked up that old Stella guitar: songs that feel honest, useful, and worth keeping.

Top photo: Toby Kessler, Cimarron Images