Welcome to my music site. I am a singer and songwriter who also enjoys sawing on the fiddle and playing the mandolin. I also play guitar and anything with 4 strings tuned in 5ths such as the octave mandolin or tenor banjo.

My interests are broad, but my preferred genre is something called "old-time music." Old-time music is traditional music of the Appalachian region, although it is played more widely, including places outside the United States. Old-time music has two broad divisions: dance tunes (= fiddle tunes) and old songs, mostly gloom-and-doom ballads. The origins of these tunes and ballads is mainly the British Islands, so American old-time music is a cousin of the various styles of traditional music in England, Ireland, Scotland, and adjacent areas.

Those unfamiliar with the varieties of traditional music, including many musicians, often erroneously refer to the types of music I play as "bluegrass." I rarely have the energy to try and explain that it is not. So, if you don't know the difference between bluegrass and old-time music, click here for a straightforward answer that includes a definition of old-time music. I dabbled in bluegrass when I was in college but never felt a strong attraction to it.

What does an old-time music festival look and sound like? Many of you know, of course, but if not, click here for a short video of a typical low-key daytime scene. Click here for an brief example of a more intense daytime jam session, and click here for a brief look at high-energy nighttime session. And if you want something longer, here are some good examples from Youtube (#1 shows me from the front; #2 from the back): 1 Clifftop 08 <> 2 Clifftop 08 <> 3 Clifftop 08.

Songwriting had long been on my list of things to do, and I finally got around to it at the start of 2007. Initial progress was slow, but by the end of the year I had written somewhere between 40 and 50 songs of varying quality. And I've kept going. It is hard to categorize these songs precisely. Most could fit into a label like "country music" or "folk music"--broadly defined. Some sound like something you might hear on country radio and others would have less of a popular appeal. My main purpose in writing is to create songs I like to sing. Anything beyond that is icing on the cake.

Thank you for stopping by, and feel free to send a message.