True Story

I grew up playing guitar in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.  After school, I moved to Boston and auditioned for and/or joined 826 bands before I joined Dumptruck in late 1986. That's probably where the 'career' you know me for started. I was in the band for three years before some combination of boredom with a bullshit lawsuit and general need for change of life led me to leave for new york. As soon as I got there, I hooked up with Yo La tengo for a year of touring and random recording behind their Fakebook album. I was also starting to play with Chris Harford, Freedy Johnston and a ton of other songwriters in NY and began producing with Madder Rose and Lisa Loeb. At the same time, I was doing a ton of session work, everything from German bands whose name i don't remember to the Pooh Sticks and Miracle Legion. Those good times were interrupted by a serious bout with Lyme disease, which left me virtually incapacitated for the better part of a year and, ultimately, homeless and broke. I had been messing around with the idea of writing and singing my own songs and had recorded a few

things here and there. I had an album sort of

finished, but, after getting out of the hospital in late '93, i decided to get more serious about getting a record deal. One week in '94, my band and I made Soma City, a scrappy little record that brought us a little success. Loved that band... Dave Dunton, Scott Yoder, Keith Leverault and Todd Novak. It would be unfair not to include Niko Bolas in that gang, because he was a brilliant producer. I made a couple more records, Glimmer and Ecstatic before the cost of touring, lack of confidence in my voice and the arrival of my daughter conspired to inspire a change of course. More production, some film scoring, composing, writing songs for other singers... really anything that involved being in the studio. That has been my mode of operation since i moved to Woodstock in 1999. A few special and steady partners in crime show up frequently in my studio, on stage or in my discography--- Rachael Yamagata, Lenka, and a couple others. I learn something from everyone I work with, I'm always game to make some music. That sounds casual and hippie-ish, neither of which describe me, but it's really just that simple and unimpressive. If you want or need to know more, just ask. I'm open to it, but writing about oneself is... you know.