Grownup Music
Everything started with “Weird Al” Yankovic. Then I was a Beatles-obsessed kid, convinced that everyone wanted to hear about my deepest emotions. Next, I wanted to be an Indigo Girl. Then Lyle Lovett, Tom Waits, and Vic Chesnutt showed me how strange songs can be. Old-time taught me about rhythm. Punk and grunge made me the reasonably competent guitar player I am today.
My most frequent collaborator is Brian Slattery, who plays all kinds of music on all kinds of instruments. Robbi Behr and Matthew Swanson made my last four albums possible, creating the art and liner notes and distributing them through IdiotsBooks and Bobbledy Books. I’ve also played with DC-based Hollertown and Wisconsin’s all-priest supergroup Monstrance (see us in action here). Brian Wecht and I once wrote music for a college production of Bertolt Brecht’s Joan of the Stockyards. It was rejected. Brian now changes lives as a member of Ninja Sex Party.
