<Return to
Press Kit/Photo Promos.

A BRIEF INTERVIEW

What were your early musical influences?

The first song I remember hearing is The Stallion of Thunder Canyon by Tex Ritter. My sister and I would listen to it on rainy afternoons, hearts pounding. It was the tragic tale of a horse that jumps off a cliff during a wild and ferocious thunder storm. Very vivid and totally believable! I've always had very eclectic taste. As a teenager "new folk" was what excited me the most...Joan Baez, Tom Rush, Richard and Mimi Farina, Phil Ochs, Peter, Paul and Mary. Probably the biggest influence was Bob Dylan and his electric band at the Newport Folk Festival. Shook the earth for me. I took a little corner of the basement in our house...turned it into a tiny coffee house with candles, etc. where I would sit by myself and listen to Herbie Mann, Thelonius Monk, Dylan and other stuff that didn't go over so well "upstairs." My dad sang in a "barbershop quartet" so there was lots of musical harmony around. A trio I joined won a contest to appear on a local radio show...my intro into the big world.

What about McKendree Spring?

We were very fortunate. We had only been together a short while when we decided to go to NYC to see if we could get a break in the big time. On the advice of one of the Chapin brothers (I think it was Tom) we auditioned at a club called the "Bitter End"...very famous at the time...for their new talent showcase. The host, a comedian named George Terry, thought we were great and put us on the bill that night, called a bunch of agents/managers he knew and within a couple of days we had a manager, record contract with MCA and a booking agency. We went in the studio a short time later with Eddie Simon (Paul's younger brother) as producer and were soon touring on what was called the "Coffee House Circuit" which was the brainchild of our management firm.

They had quite a good "stable" at the time...Jerry Jeff Walker, Keith Sykes, Nick Holmes...I think the Roche sisters...all very talented folks. So we would go out and play at these little coffee houses that were set up at colleges around the country...playing three or four sets a night, six nights a week. On Sunday we'd travel to the next school. We were supposed to stay in the dorms but that didn't work well as you can imagine. We were performing as a four piece but also with us were Mike Dreyfus (the violinist) wife, their two year old and Mike's mother who baby sat when were playing. All of us in a van and a car...on the road for months.

We moved up a bit and were doing shows in the US and Europe with everyone from Elton John to Frank Zappa. I made a list one day not long ago of all the folks we played with...it was an amazing "who's who" ... Van Morrison, James Taylor, Ike and Tina, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, etc. And we played some landmark events..the closing show of the Filmore East, a huge march on Washington..about 60,000 people scattered across the mall, smoke form campfires...it looked like a picture out of a history book...Carnegie Hall, the first rock concert at Radio City Music Hall. Fun and exciting times. We recorded seven albums but struggled to survive. We had a devoted but small fan base and as the disco era was born it was difficult to keep working without a "hit" record. We eventually went our separate ways... I, to sign with Arista Records. I did some "singles" for them with Fred Mollin (America, Kris Kristofferson, Jimmy Webb) producing which I felt was very good work but nothing much came of it, most disappointing. Clive Davis and Arista were focused on the hit makers of the time (i.e. Barry Manilow) and the energy, commitment and support wasn't there. This was an extremely frustrating time and I decided to quit music...moved to Cape Cod, built houses, made furniture. My wife was a rock and a saint ...somehow we made it through some difficult years.

And then?

I came through that time with an awareness that music was very important to me, that I'd been given a gift...that I could sing, play, connect with people through music. Something I couldn't just walk away from. So I began to work with young people in a network under the aegis of the Episcopal Church. I continue to be involved in this area...it is very fulfilling and I've met some truly wonderful people over the years. Seekers...bright,thoughtful and caring folks working to make the world a better place.

So... about your latest recordings?

Well, Cairn is the most recent so I'll start there...
a cairn often marks a sacred place on a trail or path... where one pauses to reflect, listens more closely, prays for guidance, looks for signs at the crossroads. Often they are made of stones, each placed by a passerby, a pilgrim, until they are as high as one can reach, and then the little spaces between the larger stones begin to be filled in with other hopes, prayers, and stories. When I began recording songs for this cd three years ago I had little idea what it would be like in the end, but now, as I listen, I see clearly that what I've been doing is adding stones, of notes, rhythm, story, the sharing of gifts, the raising of voices, the crafting of poetry, to my cairn of the past three years. Some truly wonderful and gifted musicians lent their talents to this project...and it's very eclectic.

Via Transforma is a journey. One of my deep interests over the past 16 years or so has been the area of dream work..the world of Carl Jung...and learning how one can gain insight into one's path from studying, working with the dream images. Also, the writings and work of Meister Eckhart, a 13th century mystic, have been inspirational. He wrote of a four fold way of seeing life¹s journey: the via positiva...potential;via negativa...letting go and letting be; via creativa...breakthrough; and via transformativa...transformation. He referred to it as a "wayless way"..open to all. So, by drawing from my own dreams and experience along with a few other songs that spoke to me by other writers (Leonard Cohen, Hothouse Flowers) I've put together this musical exploration of the four fold path. My friend Bruce Barnes, a Jungian analyst from Toronto, summed it up best in the liner notes he wrote for this cd: "We either choose to take this journey, or are compelled to by a crisis in our lives, which forces us to ask: who are we? What have we done with our lives thus far? And where are we going? Whether we are ready or not, we are booked on a passage into the unknown..."

RETURN TO TOP