Who am I?
I am a musician, guitarist, pianist, and pilot. I have a wonderful wife who supports my dreams and loves to explore what new things this world has to offer. I love boating on the waters of Southwest Florida and enjoy the beach.
I was born in Dallas, Texas and began piano lessons at a very early age. When I turned 13, my parents gave me a guitar and I put it to use very quickly. I played the clarinet in band from middle school throughout the first two years of college and was in the marching band all four years of high school. I also played guitar in high school jazz band, where I had the privilege of being trained by Ron Brown, Natalie Cole’s saxophone player.
I attended the University of North Texas, where I graduated with a BBA in Finance. Shortly after earning my degree, I discovered an office environment was not my thing. I changed course and pursued a career in aviation, and am currently a Captain for a major airline.
Since the age of 16, I was heavily involved in music and played guitar with many different bands until I was in my mid-forties. During those years, I worked with and opened for many major artists. One of those artists was Merle Haggard – He was very influential in my style and development. I also opened for Johnny Cash, Steve Wariner, Garth Brooks, Ronnie Milsap, Mark Chesnutt, Patti Loveless, Sammy Kershaw, Marty Stuart, Ricky Van Shelton, Shenandoah, Exile, Mason Dixon, Sonny James, T. Graham Brown, Ray Stevens, Tanya Tucker, Diamond Rio, and many more.
In 1982 I began playing lead guitar for the Sunshine Boys, thanks to a referral from country music artist Deryl Dodd. We toured across the United States and performed at various venues. Lead singer of the Sunshine Boys, Gene Stroman, went on to win Nashville’s “You Can Be A Star” in 1986. I toured with Gene for a few years after he went solo, and appeared in two country music videos that were in rotation on CMT during 1986.
In 2000, I took a short break from music, as my flying career was taking off. Once I became established in aviation, I jumped back into music recording and production. I worked with a friend, who is the owner and founder of a reputable postproduction studio in Dallas, and gained experience in composing and recording original music and sound design for commercial spots. That experience led me to an interest in filming.
Shortly thereafter, I was given the opportunity to donate my time and produce audio and video for a non-profit, veterans initiative program that was associated with my airline. I was exposed to a wide variety of production possibilities that gave me the privilege of working with some of our country’s true heroes. Through a program called “Snowball Express”, I was able to work with Gary Sinise and his “Lieutenant Dan Band”, who is an avid supporter of our troops, as well as actor J.R. Martinez, who starred in All My Children as Brot Monroe.
During this time, I also gained experience in my airline union video department, where I filmed, edited, and created sound design for many projects. It was there where I was able to spend a day with Sully Sullenberger on a project for the union shortly after his “Miracle on the Hudson” landing.
In 2006, myself and two business partners, created a new, innovative production company which we named VideoPilot360. Our company specialized in green screen video spokesperson technology.
By incorporating our skills, we became a very successful team and quickly gained notoriety, directing much of our attention toward country music stars in Nashville. One of our clients was Disney’s Lyric Street Records – they used our technology for the promotion of their artists. We worked with Rascal Flatts, Billy Ray Cyrus, Love and Theft, Sara Buxton, Katie Armiger, Bucky Covington, and several other Nashville celebrities.
One year after VideoPilot360 was founded, my partners and I created an additional company, TriColor Media. It was geared towards full service video production and web design. We produced a wide variety of products from our VideoPilot360 Online Spokesperson Technology to web design and country music videos. We were hired by Aria Records Nashville to produce Todd O’Neill’s video “Something With Some Attitude” and also “The Making Of” video.
I currently focus on writing and recording. I hope you love my music as much as I do…
