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Biography (courtesy of Keeping Records)

It seems to me that much of life is about remembering. Remembering our mistakes, our joys, and the lessons learned in all of it. Over the past 10 years, songwriting has served as an on-going journal for me; a way to log the miles of my life and remember more clearly. Many of my songs serve as benchmarks so that I can keep some kind of bearing as to where I am and, perhaps more importantly, where I've been. My hope in sharing my songs with others is that my story will help to shed some light on theirs.

In the latter part of 1992, I went on staff with Young Life in Northern California . I spent the next 3 and 1/2 years connecting with teenagers and teaching others to do the same. Songwriting became increasingly important to me over those years. I found music to be an effective way to process and remember the multitude of things going on in, through and around me.

Toward the end of my work with Young Life, I developed a friendship with Frank Tate, President/Founder of 5 Minute Walk Records. Frank knew I was writing and thought a larger audience would appreciate my stories and songs. Over the next two years, I recorded two albums with 5 Minute Walk. The first, Reason For Living, is a collection of songs written about Young Life leadership and stories of teens I had the privilege of knowing. Father is a more personal album in that the songs dealt primarily with the suicide of my father in 1998 and the struggle to see the good in dark times. In support of these records, I had the opportunity to tour with 5 Iron Frenzy, Bebo Norman, Caedmon's Call and Jennifer Knapp.

Touring continues to be the heartbeat of what I do. Since 5MW disbanded in 2001, I have maintained a full calendar of national touring. While my audiences can be quite diverse, from playing for congregates in a small rural church, to teenagers in the Czech Republic, most of my schedule is made up of shows on college campuses in the continental US.

I have also recorded three independent studio projects during that time. The Untitled EP, recorded in 2001, is a collection of songs written in spiritual devotion. The recording is left almost entirely unedited in order to retain the rawness of the songs by themselves. The simplicity of the recording is intended to highlight the human side of faith, wherein life is not often refined. In 2002, I recorded Trust. Many of the songs on the album are flashes back to my past, before I began living a life of faith. I have portrayed the mind-set of the un-churched and disinterested teen I was in high school. My hope is to inspire believers to understand those who do not recognize God in their world. In 2003 I recorded my 3 rd independent record, entitled Intersections. Much of the album's content deals with renewing the way I see the world around me; learning to recognize the eternal value in every moment, every relationship, every song, trying to cut through the utilitarian perspective I am so used to bringing to my everyday. Finally, after numerous requests for a live recording, I released the Live At Grove City bootleg in 2004.

Being an independent artist has granted me the opportunity to apply the principles of service I learned through Young Life and 5 Minute Walk Records to all aspects of my music career. The most pertinent of these principles is that good business is good ministry. Because my wife Amy and I are involved with every facet of this business, we can live that principle out completely. I believe that my responsibility extends beyond my "listeners", to every promoter and tech; to any and all who are involved with a show, an album, a festival, etc… I am beginning to recognize that, more than being a musician, I am a communicator, and that everything I do communicates a message. I am remembering over and over that who I am is far more important than what I do, and that the quality of the music I put out is dictated by the quality of the person I am.