I began my music journey at age 12, when my father taught me how to play Stardust on an old Silvertone acoustic guitar. At the same time, my great uncle who used to play with all the Big Band greats gave me his Paris Selmer alto sax to start band in sixth grade. I started writing songs in 1971, then quit for many years after serving in the Army and dying of pneumonia for two and a half minutes. It changed me in a bad way. I started writing again in the mid eighties and picked up the sax again, playing in local community bands. In 1997 I won a Gibson J-200 Custom Shop guitar from KVET/KASE radio in Austin. That started me on my current path, writing in earnest. I picked up a used tenor sax on eBay for $200 that was broken, took it in to Austin Brass and got it fixed, only to find out it was a Paris Selmer 1959 Mark VI, the holy grail of tenor saxes. I’ve been playing it professionally ever since. I had a need for the tools to make my music and the universe provided ... how cool is that?
Music is the voice and vibrancy of the soul. It is that which shuts out the noise of the world and gives the inner self what it needs to express love, hate, joy, hurt ... all the emotions put into frequency vibrations that translate to the heart.
I dream of my music reaching someone on an emotional level and giving them just what they need to hear at one exact moment in time.
Shattering ignorance and hate with love through the common language of music.
Elvis - Hound Dog
Elvis, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Simon & Garfunkel, LED Zeppelin, Heart, John Denver, Black Sabbath, Ten Years After, Steppenwolf, Andres Segovia, Mozart, Lorena McKinnit
It is the key to unleash the anguish, torment and joy of the soul into the world.
Life matters, shared life connects.
Scared to death ...exhilarated...grateful.
The services that take our music to the public are taking the lion’s share of profits, leaving nothing for those that create the music. Greed abounds for those in power.
Too soon to tell, ask me later.
Not being able to find the right chords in the right combination to express my ideas, not being a master of every instrument to be able to put every voice needed into a song.
By going out to hear local musicians, putting some extra tip money in their jar and telling them how much their music meant to me.
Have something meaningful to say, the technical ability to say it well and the luck and connections to find the right people to bring it forward.
Me. My current band, Carte Blanche. Loreena McKinnit, Leah