My Music
I’ve been playing music most of my life. I started on piano and picked up the guitar around seventh grade. As an adult, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to contribute to multiple records. Listen to and read about them below!
The absolute crowning achievement of all my creative endeavors so far is the album “Embers” written and recorded with my band, Jack Pine. There are three songwriters in the band and the whole thing was such an amazing collaborative effort. Released in May of 2022, I still listen to the album to this day. I couldn’t be more proud of how it turned out. While I contributed to all of the songs in some way, “Grey” is the song that I wrote. You can read more about the origins of that song HERE. Otherwise, please give the whole thing a listen, start to finish. I don’t think you will regret it.
The most recent recording I have out in the world is Jack Pine: Live at Dogtown. We recorded this down at Dogtown Studios in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It includes two brand new songs (to the internet), and a live version of “Wings,” our most popular song off “Embers,” with an alternate ending.
Jack Pine will soon be releasing a song I wrote called “February Ghosts,” along with a few others. Stay tuned!
The first recording I contributed to, way back in 2011, is a song called “Stay With Me” by Joe Welsh (not to be confused with Joe Walsh). I played the electric guitar part on this, even if I needed a lot of direction from really talented musicians to get it right. Joe himself, Jack Conners, Brad Novak, Rick Buist; you can’t pick a better crew and I don’t know how I ended up on this. When I listen to it now, I’m still more than happy with how it turned out. This was recorded on my first “good” guitar—a Japanese-made Epiphone Les Paul. I made the unique decision (for me) to do it with my fingers rather than a pick and I can’t remember if this was done with the original pickups or the Seymour Duncan ‘59s I put in later. I’ve since converted it to P-90s now that I have a “real” Gibson Les Paul. I needed a reason to keep it, after all, and different pickups was that reason. And the fact that I’ve owned it since high school.
The second recording I worked on was Miriam Pico’s second album, “I Am Myself.” I was the sole electric guitar player on this album and I believe I appear on most of the tracks. It’s a little difficult to listen to my parts at this point. I was fairly experienced back then but still pretty darned green. Some of what I played isn’t all that great but hey, it it’s a moment capture in time.
I remember crafting solos for both “You” and “All I Think About” with Jenelle in mind, since they were love songs of sorts. Miriam wanted to cut one of them (I can’t remember which) and I selfishly begged her to keep it, which she did. I regret that to this day—these were her songs, after all—but again, it is what it is.
The standout for me at this point is probably “Crack” which was her take on a Johnny Cash-esque country song. I’m quite happy with my attempt at a country/chicken pickin’ style lead work—I even included my own nod to Mr. Cash in the main solo.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s the album.
I also played on Miriam’s third recording. The highlight on this one is “Travel Happy”. We recorded this in a massive room with the likes of Billy Strings and The Accidentals. I believe I played mandolin on this. Who needs me on guitar when you’ve got Billy Strings?! It was quite the experience and makes it even crazier to see these local legends on massive stages around the country.
Another fun little tidbit is that, for some unknown reason, I decided a little concertina would sound good on “See What We Want to See.” I honestly thought it didn’t make the final cut but it’s there towards the end!
There is decidely less of my bumbling guitar playing on this album, which is a very positive thing in my opinion. The stuff I did contribute is somewhat improved, due in no small part to the five years I spent playing around town with Miriam between this album and the last. Good memories. :)