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I've been wiriting songs and performing in bands around Chapel Hill NC since I was in high school in the late 80's. In making this site, I wanted to introduce my music to people who haven't heard it and also make some of my recordings I haven't released available to those who've known me all these years. The albums sampled here are very different from each other.

Below is a short description of each of my solo albums.

"False Idols"
This is my most recent solo CD. Most of the tunes on this record have been the foundation of my shows with Kevin Rader-Rhodenbaugh on drums. He plays on nine of the tracks. Once again, Mike Garrigan contributed his production savvy to the project. I feel strongly that these are the best songs I've ever written. You can hear samples and purchase cds or downloads from cdbaby.



Or if you prefer, you can buy it at itunes

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=263377534


"Eternal Summer"
In the summer of 2006 I recorded twelve new songs with Mike Garrigan, all of which were based on literature that I teach in my classes. The CD also includes the six songs from 2005 that formed The Siren Child EP.

You can purchase Eternal Summer and The Siren Child combined at CD Baby.



Also, if you want to purchase downloads of Eternal Summer, you can get it from itunes.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=208132965

"The Siren Child"

I recorded these songs in the summer of 2005 at Mike Garrigan's studio in Greensboro NC. He's awesome. If you don't know his work, check out mikegarrigan.com. I released the six songs as The Siren Child. Since then I've been performing these tunes with Kevin Rader-Rhodenbaugh on drums. Kevin and I also play in a band called Imaginary Girlfriend, in which I play bass.


"John Gillespie"

This EP is known informally as "The Running Puppy" because of the design Rob Graham made for the cover. This is the first recording I made at Overdub Lane in Durham NC with Mark Kano and Nic Brown of Athenaeum. This was a very part time side project for them, and they brought out a more powerful and electric side of songs that I had written with just a voice and an acoustic guitar. We did another session the following year that was even more aggressively rock and roll.

"MCA Demo"

These six songs are possibly the only recordings I've ever made that have no acoustic guitar used anywhere! Mark Kano and Nic Brown had just been signed to Atlantic, but they graciously took the time to help me record a demo for a rep from MCA (hence, the title). I never pressed this any more formally than some CD-Rs I burned myself and sold locally.

"Grooveworks Sessions"

In the summers of 1997 and 1999 I recorded two separate sessions with Ian Schreier at his brand new home studio called Grooveworks. Ian and I had played together in two separate bands, Two Fish Blue and Gild The Lily. I played bass and he played drums in both bands. For these recordings, he acted as studio drummer, engineer, and producer.

The first session was mostly acoustic. He played drums on two songs, but we never overdubbed any bass or electric guitars. The second session was intentionally different. No acoustic guitars were used for any of the four tracks. I played all the electric guitar and bass parts.

"Wishing"

While I lived on Shady Lawn road, I started doing more home recording. After borrowing a condensor mic from Mike Garrigan and a mixer from John Plymale, I found my old Yamaha 4-track still had some use left in it. I recorded six songs in the Spring of 1999 and released them when I finally purchased a CD burner with which to make copies. I later upgraded to an 8-track minidisc recorder, and I made many recordings with Nic Brown as my session drummer. Those demos eventually became the genesis of my band, Marzipan Effigy.

"Totem"

During a dark period in my personal life, I went to Jerry Kee's studio in Raleigh and recorded 11 takes straight to DAT. I eventually used 9 of those takes/songs for a cassette only release. This tape eventually served as the basis for my musical collaboration with Mark Kano and Nic Brown. Most of the tracks were re-recorded in a full band arrangement during the sessions we did at Overdub Lane.

"When We Were Young"

After Nikki Meets the Hibachi recorded our first EP at Duck-Kee studio in Raleigh, I returned on my own and with other friends to make recordings. The first four were released on hand copied cassettes and entitled "I Know John" because only my close friends got copies. Later I recorded more songs and extended the project under a new title. This time I had the cassettes professionally duplicated!

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