I started as a guitarist and couldn't find a decent singer, so I started providing my own vocals.
I think I've gradually learned to become more of a frontman than I was initially. I mean, when I first started, especially playing with Alter Bridge, you know, I really considered myself more a guitar player who sang.
When I was 12, I decided to become a musician. 'Physical Graffiti' was the first album I ever owned.
When I first started fingerpicking, the first thing I learned was 'Don't Think Twice It's Alright' from Bob Dylan.
Cause I love STP so much and it meant so much to me as a musician throughout my process - along with other bands too - but they were definitely one of those bands that influenced me and that I looked up to a lot, I just wanted to continue their journey - for them.
I just wanted to eat, to survive. I started singing a cappella in bars. I saved up money to get my first guitar and started writing songs.
I saw Ronnie Hawkins play near my hometown, Port Dover, Ontario, and I saw him play there on New Year's Eve and the following spring I booked myself to be his opening act on maybe five shows, and he hired me after the first night.
I did a lot of writing for a lot of different kinds of bands that I was in and out of during those five years and that left me with a little body of songs that I liked better when I played alone, so I ended up going out solo and very soon made my first album.
Well I think in all the thirty years I've been doing this now and being gone from home and all that stuff it's really, it's not about what I've achieved and if I've become a better player, or played better ten years ago than I do today.
When I came out of the military, I had a club in Memphis and I started using the The Bar Kays as my club band. They were still only in the middle school - but I'd take them on the road with me on the weekends, sometimes.
As a musician, I know that it'll take time for me to get to the ranks of an established artiste. Nevertheless, I'm very happy that people are appreciating my music.
When I left the band I said Look, I am ready to move on. I was interested in playing with some of the other people that I had bee a studio musician with.
