Whether I’m playing tunes on the Irish flute, writing hymn compositions or picking on the guitar, there are few things that elevate my spirit the way that music does. Music was part of my life from an early age but finding my musical passions took longer. My love of great historic hymns was fostered by my wife Deborah and friend Kevin Twit, both of whom I met while living in Nashville just after college. Deborah and I recorded on the first Indelible Grace record that Kevin produced – the first of now many fantastic albums that feature ancient hymn texts set to new music.

Nashville was good to us. Not only did we enjoy an amazing community of like-minded musicians, it was there, while working as a guitarist, that I developed my first teaching studio, working with beginning guitarists as well as professional musicians such as Will Sayles (Drummer for Norah Jones, Over the Rhine…) and three time Dove Award winner Ginny Owens.

The “dream job” called me from Nashville to Greeley, Colorado, where I continue to serve as music director for Saint Patrick Presbyterian Church. Greeley is an amazing place to live as a musician with its rich heritage, University of Northern Colorado’s world-class music program and a tight-knit community of talented artists. Even though I lived in Boston (a hub of traditional Irish music) while studying guitar at Berklee College of Music, it wasn’t until I moved to Colorado years later that I would be introduced to “pure-drop” traditional Irish music via Irish flutist and friend Shannon Heaton.