About

I got my start as a working musician playing solo gigs on guitar at a coffee shop in Chestertown, MD fittingly called "Play it Again Sam".  Luckily, it wasn't called "Play a Different Song, Sam", because at the time I only knew one song.  After putting in my obligatory time as a lead electric guitar player in a few amazing but mercifully undocumented jam bands in college, I was one of the founding members and became the banjo player of Chester River Runoff in 2004, which for a decade was one of Maryland's busiest working bluegrass bands, playing gigs as far away as Tennessee and Maine, and working a heavy schedule of small-town bars, festivals, etc, frequently playing three or four shows a day on summer weekends.  Also in that time I took a break to do 3 tours in South America with the Quito-based Texas Express.  The Runoff stopped playing in 2015, and I've been lucky enough to become a member of or start a few other bands - The High & Wides, which I started with Marc Dykeman of the Runoff, includes CRR fiddle player Nate Grower and does really cool original string band music and prewar country - our debut, "Lifted" came out in 2018 and "Seven True Stories" came out in December 2019; and Only Lonesome, which excels in the bar-room style of bluegrass that came out of DC and Baltimore back in the day.  Over the years I've also been a member of Saltwater Stringband, which does many originals, but as an Ocean City-based group also knows how to hold down a party with whatever is called for, and am a former member of Grand Ole' Ditch and Songs From The Road Band.  I also fill in frequently with Man About A Horse, and currently play sometimes with Uncle Baltimore, Letitia VanSant, Alex Peters, and more, and over the years have been a sideman, collaborator, or sat in with folks such as The Hot Seats, Corn Potato String Band, Caleb Stine, Michael Shay, Cris Jacobs, Joe Overton (Nora Jane Struthers), Abbie Gardiner (Red Molly), Jordan Tice, David Bromberg, Geoff Union & Ragged Union, Cory Seznec, Danny Burns, Phoebe Hunt, Tom Bailey, Melody Berger, Larry Keel, and more.  That may seem like a lot, but I really like to play music or I wouldn't do it, so if you need some banjo, give me a ring.