Member Profile

Dating back to the mid ‘70s, I’ve juggled two careers: playing music and writing about it. As a music journalist, I’ve interviewed hundreds of artists in every genre. (Transcripts of these interviews can be seen on my Substack, “Van Cliburn Punched Me in the Mouth.”) I’ve written several books, including “88: The Giants of Jazz Piano.” I’ve edited two magazines, “Musician” & “CMA Close Up.” My articles have been published in a bunch of other publications, including “USA Today,” “Rolling Stone,” “DownBeat,” “No Depression,” “Country Weekly,” “American Songwriter,” “Performing Songwriter,” etc. In my parallel career as an actual musician, I’ve been fortunate to hold down a number residencies, including “The Washington Square Bar & Grill” & “MacArthur Park” in the SF Bay Area, “The Improv,” “The Empire Diner” & “The Cajun Restaurant’ in NYC, & here in Nashville, Jody Faison’s “Cafe 123,” “Ellendale’s,” “Safire” & “Skull’s Rainbow Room”; currently I’m doing four nights every week at “Gannons” at 5th & Church. I’ve been blessed to have played with or jammed with Prince, B. B. King, Wynton Marsalis, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Melanie, Neal McCoy, etc. There’s more, but that’s a pretty good wrap-up.