I grew up in a small town in rural Illinois, where it's flat as a table, and corn, cows, soybeans, and silos dominate the endless horizon. My mother bought me my first guitar from the only music store in town, paying for it in small, monthly installments. I think she regretted this later, but I’m eternally grateful.

I played singer-songwriter stuff in early college, loved Neil Young, Velvet Underground, and Nico. Saw my first fiddler playing trad American fiddle music while spending a summer working and taking classes in Eugene, OR, then returned to Philadelphia for junior year, found a fiddler to join a friend and me playing in a duo, and hitchhiked in the spring to Union Grove, NC for a big fiddler’s convention there. After that I was hooked on traditional Southern fiddle music. The following year I met my now wife, Judy Hyman, when she was one of the people I gave a ride to on a trip back to Union Grove. We loved the driving, broad-shouldered sound of the old-time stringbands and still do. We’ve been together and playing that music ever since. Judy fiddles, and I play backup rhythm guitar, banjo uke, and sing.

We’re original and forever members of the alt-folk rock band, The Horse Flies, and the indie rock band, Boy with Fish. We’ve also performed as a duo under the name, Suitcase. And, since 1994 we’ve co-created music, sometimes with others, for over 30 feature and documentary films (J2 Film Music). We’ve lived in Ithaca, NY for about 40 years now, and we continue to make music for film, to teach and perform at programs about traditional American fiddle music, and to play fiddle music in a few local bands.