A varied life. Born in a left-wing family in NYC. Spent Jr/Sr High School in the "Alabama" part of Pennsylvania (and retain a shitkicker perspective in many songs.) Now live in the leafy suburbs of Boston. My mom was not musical, but played Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan records at home. She tells me that I sang Leadbelly's "Black Girl" in front of my first grade class for talent day. I came to love country music in my late teens. I've played guitar since high school, and I'm still no good. I tend to write songs with concrete images, ambiguous characters, and a sense that if I can't tell the story in two verses and a chorus, I'm wasting someone's time. I don't always succeed, but often I do.