About Me:

I am a singer, musician, composer, collaborator, artist, designer, and I dream big. Music has always been close to my heart and very important to me - without it, I would not survive. Living as honestly and passionately as possible, I continue to surround myself with amazing people who inpsire me, respect me, and dream big.

Strong, focused and passionate folks are the sort I seek out-those with goals, dreams, integrity, and ferver. That you believe in yourself, how you treat others, how you live out your dreams, and the worlds you create in your wake-these are a few things I look for in others.

My Personal Interests:

My interests include an evolution of things that made me who I am. I trully could not live without art. Or music. True friendship. Unconditional love. And good networks of people who are trully living and believe in your dreams too-those without whom your dreams would stay safe and asleep. The Out of Doors. Architecture. Poetry. My library - always a good book to keep me going. A great meal you had so much fun cooking that there’s now so much you simply must call 3 more friends to come eat! The Ocean. Waterfalls. Walking, hiking, swimming, camping, exploring, rock-climbing, rock-hopping (some of you know exactly what I mean!). Bonfires. Canoeing, kayaking, rollerblading, and mountain biking. And how about airplanes, motorcycles, fourwheeling, go-carts, early trucks, classic convertibles, and all things retro cool & ~ jazzy. Also, shoes. I adore them. There’s always more…perhaps I’ll tell you… tomorrow.

My Musical History:

Other than that music is like breathing. I love to sing. When I was very young I sang with my folks, a capella in 3 part harmony, in the car-always in the car-in Cathedrals, under bridges, in echo-y-hallways, at the bluffs, for church… I remember always just dying to play the violin. Piano lessons came first and some time passed but at 13 I took violin from a super cool lady in Sewanee, TN. The Sewanee Summer Music Festivals were every year the essence of our summers and usually started on my birthday. Thousands of people, hundreds of musicians from around the world, concerts indoors and out, and the Vice Chancellor would throw a fondue and champagne party for everyone at his mansion on opening day.

Throughout highschool I attended four different schools-and finished my sophomore, junior and senior years at Georgia Cumberland Academy where I was afforded the opportunity to take all the extracurricular courses I could get my hands on. So I studied percussion in the concert band, joined the concert choir and performed as a soloist in the touring choir, the camerata. Together with five other classmates and the direction of our teachers we formed and performed as an a cappella sextet singing cannons from medieval time. Additionaly, myself and two girlfriends arranged and performed a capella gospel harmonies for church. I also joined the string ensemble, playing 2nd violin.

To me, one of the most memorable ensembles I performed with was the handbell choir. I immediately requested of my teachers that they allow me to play the lowest octaves, I alone playing more than a dozen of the biggest bells in the choir. Incredibly we received an invitation during my junior year from Queen Noor of Egypt to tour many of their schools and churches with our handbell choir. We spent two and a half weeks performing all over Cairo, Luxor, and Alexandria in Egypt and even a few locations in Jordan. All the while managing to find time to indulge in the unique opportunity to take in the sights all over Egypt and Jordan. At sixteen I toured the Cairo museum, rode a camel up to the Great Pyramids and walked inside, explored tombs in the Valley of the Kings, and escorted by armed gaurds and in a bulletproof bus visited the WWII memorials in the Egyptian desert. We sailed in a handbuilt felukah down the Nile at sunset, spent two delicious days in a lush Alexandria hotel and rode a horsedrawn cart through the baazar. We endedd our trip in Jordan where we visited Mt. Nebo. All this, my lasting memory of my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Much later on in life I played music any chance I got and found myself surrounded by musicians and playing in the basement every week. Tilden, my good friend, inspired me to play the bass guitar and taught me how. Soon I began to remember how to play the keys and rocked out some tunes with my good friends who happen to be sweet musicians…Imran Hussein…Ken DeVoe… Then Tilden gave me a Barcus Berry pickup to clip on my violin, we plugged it into my amp and processor-now I was playing electric violin! And we jammed. And we rocked!! And we jazzed and rock-n-rolled and played the Blues.

Currently, I am recording my first album, all original works, but there is not yet a release date. I am fortuniate to occasionally play in a sultry jazz duo with Scott Dercks, a trully talented and long time guitarist. I play bass and sing harmonies in a band called Lily Black.

My influences include: Ella Fitzgerald, Eva Cassidy, Stephan Grapelli, Djengo Rinehart, The Travelling Wilberries, Fiona Apple, Cheryl Crow, Allison Kraus, Joni Mitchell, Bjork, Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Sade, Lauryn Hill, Tom Waits, U2, REM, 311, Joe Satriani, Crouded House, L.I.V.E., Led Zeppelin, Gwen Stephani, Taj Mahal, Norah Jones, Imogen Heap, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Cassandra Wilson, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Nathalie Cole, Etta James, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Robert Johnson, Ray Charles. And of course, all the random funky cool music from my friends I can get my hands on. And classic jazz.