I was born November 7,1947 in the beautiful Bull City of Durham, N. C. I started playing guitar in the early 60's during the big folk scare. I went to my first fiddler's convention at Pulaski, Va., in 1965, and Galax two weeks later. I appeared at several fiddler's conventions and various venues at Duke University over the next several years with Bill DeTurk on the banjo playing bluegrass. In 1968 I met the Hollow Rock String Band (Alan Jabbour, Tommy & Bobbie Thompson and Bertram Levy) and started learning mandolin and autoharp. Weekly jam sessions in the Hollow Rock community expanded my knowledge and appreciation of bluegrass and old time string band music and started friendships that last until this day.
In 1969 I started playing duet jobs in the bars of Chapel Hill with Tommy Thompson, soon expanding to a trio with Fiddlin' Al McCanless. Various obligations split us up from 1970-1972 when the Red Clay Ramblers formed with me (mandolin/ guitar/ autoharp), Tommy (banjo, guitar), and former Fuzzy Mountain String Band fiddler Bill Hicks. I stayed with the Ramblers for 14 years, recording 9 albums on Folkways, Flying Fish and Sugar Hill plus a Hollow Rock String Band on Rounder in 1972 with Tommy and Alan Jabbour.
I had met Robin and Linda sometime in the late 70's and recorded some tracks for the Dixie Highway Sign album in 1979 but the first time that I worked with them for a stretch was in 1987 at Lime Kiln Arts theater in Lexington, Va. In the Fall of 1988 I started playing with them full time and when Kevin joined up with us the Fine Group was officially formed.
My present interests include exercising - pumping iron and bicycling - and playing music different from the Fine Group does: playing solo jobs, lead guitar with the world-famous country duet Duke LaCrosse and Pinky Wyoming, and string bass with a bluegrass band, the Green Level Entertainers which features Shady Grove Band guitar player Jerry Brown, Mandolin Central proprietor Tony Williamson, Gary Williamson and New Deal String Band lead singer Leroy Savage. I get a lot of pleasure playing different kinds of and acoustic music and doing a lot of singing. I also
am a board member of the Old Time Music Group, which publishes the Old Time Herald.
I got married December 18, 1994 to Anne Berry and we live in Chapel Hill with our two dogs Hannah and Belle - if she had a "b" at the end of her name both dogs would be palindromes.
I still enjoy juggling and frisbee playing although I don't do it as much as I used to. I really like food with garlic, black and white Andy Griffith shows and music that has an edge, especially when it comes to playing and singing. I was influenced a lot by bluegrass singers at those fiddler's conventions - people who sing with conviction and put everything into it. That's the way I like it and the way I hope to keep playing music.
