Behind the Songs

Moonlight and Memories

I wrote this song for my wife Mandy. The lyrics speak for themselves and I mean every word.

This Old House

We live in this big 110 year old house in St. Louis, MO. It sits on about 2/3's of an acre on a hill overlooking the street out front. It has this great Antebellum porch in the front. One day I was sitting in my studio looking out the picture window overlooking the yard and started thinking about all of the history the house had witnessed over the years and all of the people that have passed through its doors. It's a great old house and we love it.

Thick or Thin

This song started as a message to my kids. It's really meant for all those that I care about. I wanted to let them know that no matter what, one way or the other, in some form, I'd always be there for them. Shortly after I finished it, a close relative got very sick and passed away. I performed it at his gravesite for his loved ones to convey the same message to them from him. So long Cuz.

The Ballad of the Ice Cream Man & the Waitress

Growing up there was this family in the neighborhood that no one knew much about. They lived in a big creepy house and kept to themselves. Over the years all kinds of stories cropped up about them. It occurred to me, years later, that this is often the case in life. We live, work and associate with people with whom we know little of anything about and yet we form opinions and prejudices about them without ever knowing their story. Everybody has a story.

Cowboy's Dream

There are few images, around the world, more American than that of the American cowboy. And yet, the hey day of the cowboy was relatively short, the years between the end of the Civil War and the turn of the 20th century. Young men returning from the war only to find their homes and families destroyed and freed slaves headed west trying to rebuild their lives. refining skills and equipment developed in the southwest and Mexico many found work in the burgeoning cattle business. These jobs faded however with the increasing industrialization of America. This song is in the style of those old cowboy songs.

I Like It Like That

What can I say? I rode a "big black horse", I had a "yellow dog", and HAVE a "good woman who can do it all". And yes..."I Like It Like That".

New Rose In the Garden (A song for Scarlet)

I wrote this song for my Granddaughter, Scarlet Amada Rose born September 17, 2013.