:: ABOUT ::
Music is an important aspect of my existence. Writing and playing music, both solo and with some extremely talented musicians and friends, has pulled me through the toughest times of my life and created some of the most satisfying and memorable times as well. I have been fortunate enough to grace the stage with musicians I don't even consider myself in the same league with, beginning with the first time Steve Pryor and the Mighty Kingsnakes let me play a few songs in between their set when they hosted a local blues jam. I grew up in Tulsa, OK which was home to rock'n'roll hall of famer Leon Russell. When I moved to California I began playing music with my friend Greg Noll in an acoustic duo called The Primates. We somehow maneuvered ourselves into the opening act slot for Leon Russell, my hometown legend. A few years later my band Angel.House found itself sharing the stage with Cheap Trick. I want you to want me. Yes, THAT Cheap Trick. We had a nice little string of luck, opening up for the legendary Spencer Davis Group, '80s hitmakers The Plimsouls, San Diego's own The Beat Farmers, Bloodline (featuring future blues legend Joe Bonamassa), Flat Duo Jets and quite a few other big label bands that fizzled out or moved on. We had our own tour bus and we toured the US and banged our heads against the wall in our hometown.
After releasing a couple of CDs (as Angel.House and later as The Deadlites) and playing major venues and hitting the road and struggling to make it happen, it finally became obvious it was time to move on. Although the band was no longer, I continued to write and record music. I put together a basic home studio and hit the record button when inspired. The result was a homemade CD called Everything's Swell. The next CD is finally done...or done enough. It's called Good-bye California and I played most of the instruments and sang all the vocals. There are also some great contributions by my friends and bandmates. You can download the album for free on the "MUSIC" page of this site.
In addition to my solo gigs, I have reconnected with many of my former bandmates and musical compadres and we play occasionally as The Small Pox Mountain Boys. It's a musical conglomeration of seven of us, all playing each other's music and contributing in any way we can. Our gigs are fun and entertaining and full of spontaneity and good, quality music. No two shows are alike. I highly recommend coming to see us if you have the chance and you just appreciate good music. The band includes myself along with Rob Quillen, Dave Quillen, Michelle Quillen, Oliver Fiedler, Dianne Day-Fiedler, Mike Hawkins and occasionally Don Quillen. That's a lot of Quillens. We occasionally have guest musicians sitting in with us like Flogging Molly's Matt Hensley on accordion, guitarist extrordinaire Adrian Demain, bassist Alan Deremo (Men at Work, John Denver, Glenn Frey, etc.), Mark Vernon of A.M. Vibe on drums, and you never know who else will drop in.
:: GEAR ::
I'm a bit of a guitar freak. In other sections of this site you'll see links to my guitar blog The Ones That Got Away. And I've been fortunate to build websites for a couple of the top guitar makers in the world. In this section of the site I will go into my gear a little bit simply because I'm obsessed with it and love to share what I think makes a great set-up.
I am extremely fortunate to have found guitar luthier Mike Franks and his hand made acoustic guitars. Mike only makes about 15 guitars a year, so the fact that I own two of them makes me a lucky guitarist. The first of his guitars I own is a custom built dreadnought with D-41-style inlay on the body and custom headstock inlay which was done by David Nichols, who has done inlay work for Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Aerosmith, and on and on. This guitar is my "keeper" and will go to the grave with me. Okay, welI, I'm sure I'll will it to someone. I also recently received a brand new resonator guitar from Mike Franks, serial number 69. Oh yeah. It's about the most beautiful resonator I've ever seen and it sounds amazing. You can hear it on some of my new recordings on the "music" page of this site. 
My other acoustic guitar is a sunburst 1964 Epiphone Frontier with the rare "rope and cactus" pickguard. It was made famous by Gram Parsons, but I didn't realize that until after I got mine. Mine has been played a LOT and shows the mojo of a very cool instrument. It seems to have magical sounds...everyone who plays it says it's the coolest guitar they've ever played and that there is something magic about it. I can't explain it, but I think so too.
I also recently happened across one of the best sounding guitars I've ever owned...for $24.95 in a thrift store. It's one beat to hell early '70s Yamaha FG-160 and I got it to be my campfire guitar. It has now found it's way into my on-stage arsenal complete with an L.R. Baggs acoustic pickup that cost WAY more than the guitar itself. Sometimes you just get lucky.
My current electric is a late '90s Telecaster Special, which features a humbucker in the neck position and I put a Don Mare hand wound single coil in the bridge. This guitar sounds and plays great but has no special mojo. I did just add a toroise pickguard to it to give it that "Marty Stuart" look. it has also been relic'd a bit. I keep a pink paisley Fender Telecaster hidden away for sentimental reasons. It's a sweet guitar, one of the '80s japanese reissues, but you'll never see it outside my house.
My favorite part of my electric rig is my Swamp Thang pedal. It's a tremolo pedal and it's the best sounding trem pedal you can buy in my opinion. This is the third one I've owned and I will never get rid of this one. I also use the standard Ibanez Tubescreamer for some overdrive distortion sounding stuff and I just got one of those Way Huge Aqua Puss reissues for some nice delay.
My live PA rig is mostly Carvin, which has to be the most underrated music gear company out there. Their PA stuff is excellent and super affordable. I picked up a 12-channel powered mixer on Craig's List for super cheap and it drives our entire 7-piece band no problem. And I also recommend the Audio Technica ATM41a microphones for playing live...better than the standard Shure SM58, though I've got one of those too. The first ATM41a I got was YEARS ago...I started hosting San Diego's only open mic night at the time at a coffee shop called Drowsy Maggies, and the guy who had previously hosted it was actually homeless. He needed money and sold me his mic for $75. Not sure what happened with him but he was a really nice guy and I've still got and use the mic at every gig.
I also use a new Digitech Vocalist Live 2 when I play acoustic gigs. It's a vocal harmony processor and, with it's new technology, it's pretty amazing. I get compliments all the time on how natural and cool it sounds. Really adds an extra dimension to the sound. Get one. Now. Stop reading this and go get one...even if you don't play music.
:: MUSICIANS I AM INDEBTED TO ::
This could also be called the "influences" section, but really it's about much more than influence. It's about music really touching your soul and becoming part of your life...not just influencing what I play. Some of these are people you would never know.
The first concert I ever went to was when I was about 5-years old. My parents took my younger sister and I to see James Brown. This would have been about 1965. Yes, I'm old. But I still remember it. Very clearly. This was when James Brown was much younger...in his prime. We might have been the only white people there and my mom was dancing in the aisles with everyone else.
The next concert I went to was Willie Nelson. Much different than James Brown. I do remember the people next to us were smoking pot. The smell was overwhelming and I had no idea what it was. But still, to this day, when I smell pot I think of Willie Nelson. I'm sure other people do too, but not for the same reason.
The last concert I'll mention is the next one my parents took us to: Sly and the Family Stone, with opening acts Dr. John and a local, unsigned band...the Gap Band. Yes, the Gap Band was from Tulsa. And I saw them before they were famous. And Sly was pretty damn good too. And a chick OD'd right in front of us on the floor.
Now, on to the obligatory llst: Willie, Waylon and the boys, Delbert McClinton, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Josh Rouse, Jon Nolan, Ryan Bingham, Steve Pryor and the Mighty Kingsnakes, Jim Sweeney, Better Than Ezra, Chris Whitley, Dave Quillen, The BoDeans, Drive By Truckers, Smithereens, Gillian Welch, Shawn Colvin, Nancy Griffith, Dan Fogelberg, Michael Hedges, Talk Talk, Dwight Yoakam, Tom Waits, John Mellencamp, Lemonpeeler, Charlie Sexton, Greg Leisz, Lyle Lovett, The Replacements and Paul Westerberg, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Sam and Dave, Fender Telecasters, Elvis Costello, Son Volt, The Paladins, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Wilco, Shannon McNally, The Arc Angels, Rob Quillen, Mike Hawkins, Oliver Fiedler, Deliverance Machine, Joe Ely, Amos Lee, Kelly Willis, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Devlins, Chris Isaak, Leon Russell, Dr. John, Sly and the Family Stone, Al Green, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jeff Buckley, David Anderson, Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, Gomez, Hayes Carll, Jason Isbell, The Jayhawks, M.J. Franks Guitars, The O'Kanes, The Walking Wounded, U2, Steve Earle, Tim Easton, and countless others I will think of later.
