I was born in San Antonio, TX and raised in Baltimore, MD and Houston, TX. Early musical influences include The Kingston Trio, Chubby Checker, Lightning Hopkins, Josh White, Gilbert and Sullivan, Buffalo Springfield,
Amelia Rodriguez, 13th Floor Elevators, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, Crosby Stills and Nash and all the AM radio that I could listen to.
Equipment
I've always loved musical equipment. Going into a music store was like visiting Santa's workshop. (One of my favorite music stores is Shreveport Music owned by Don Teach. "He is Buddy's buddy, but he ain't got any hair.") Guitars, drums and stuff that made them sound good were and still are pretty much my fantasies. Early on, it was electric guitars and drumsets that captivated me. What I had was a nylon stringed acoustic guitar, but what I wanted was the rest of the music store! If I was to go into a music store right now, I'd probably be hanging out in the guitar department for a little bit. I'd be looking for a Gretch hollow body to play and dream about. Then after a while, I'd end up in the drum department. Mostly I'd just be looking and fantasizing. The idea of sitting down at a drumset in a store is totally intimidating. I do harbor thoughts about owning a drumset in the future. I have a lot of hand drums that I've collected over the years.
Guitars
My main guitar right now is a Rick Turner Renaissance electric-acoustic guitar. It sounds great and is really dependable. The airlines haven't been able to destroy it yet and I've been playing mine for a couple of years. I also use a Renaissance baritone 12 string guitar on stage. I love the huge sound it gets.
For effects, I use a Boss ME-30 multi-effects pedal in conjunction with a Yamaha DG-Stomp. Between the two pedals, I can get just about any sound I can imagine and a whole bunch more.
Amp
I'm still using a Crate AC-125-D amplifier. I've been hooked on it since the first time I tried it. The amp is strong, clean and just the right size for playing the venues that we play. If you're looking for an all around great amp for an acoustic guitar this one is it. The Crate comes with onboard digital effects like chorus, delay and reverb. It's quite a package. The most important thing to know about equipment is that it's only the start of your sound. You could take three different players and give them the exact same equipment and they would all sound different. What really defines a guitar player are his hands and his approach to the instrument. The way he frets the chords he choses or the vibrato he gives the strings. Equipment is fun and should inspire you to approach music from a different perspective, but the real difference between guitar players is how they use what they've got.
Home Studio
Recently, I've been really interested in home studio recording. I have a Xytar digital recording system. The people at Xytar make a wide range of systems that can take you from small project studio to full blown mega-studio. One of the great features of this particular system is that you have everything you need to record and master your material. There's a CD burner that comes with the Xytar and a fully automated on-board mixer that will recall all of your mixing moves. I'm starting to sound like a commercial so I'll quit, but you can link to their page from here.
