Acoustic & Electric Guitar

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: Mostly what kind of styles I cover. I'm pretty honest and happy to refer work to someone else if I believe they can handle it better than I can.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Organic and informed by song melody.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Keeping your mouth closed while playing acoustic instruments helps limit the amount of click bleed into the mic. ;-)

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: Folk, Americana, Country, Bluegrass, Rock, R&B, CCM

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I like to see what the client wants, listen to what I'm playing on, and ask any relevant questions to fill in gaps between maybe what I'm hearing and what the job description is. This usually involves me sending a short recording of some ideas so the the client and I are on the same page. After we narrow something down I roll up my sleeves and get to work.

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: My friend Shawn had this cool batch of songs for an album awhile back. We all hunkered down in the studio for a couple of days and got to make some cool art. It's always fun to play with your friends and generally goes smoother.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: A hymns album for myself as a labor of love. My grandma would like it, and it would give me an opportunity to be a Cracker Barrel featured artist...YAY!

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: Yes. My friend Elise Katherine.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. The world moves faster, and as much as I'd like to do everything to tape, we have deadlines to meet. I also love being able to use digital delays instead of spending thousands on vintage tape echos. At this point they've got it down to where you're really not compromising anything. That being said...if horns can be recorded to tape, do it. Sweet lord it sounds great.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: I'll make the best effort I can with the information I'm given. My name is going on it and that is important to me.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Guitar is fun! Music is fun!

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: That I have endless hours to get a single project done.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What are you trying to accomplish with this song? What kind of vibe are you going for? What specifically are you looking for me to bring to it?

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: Have everything recorded to click, a good chart, and generally be able to convey what you want. If these things are done, the work can be turned around much quicker.

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: Martin D-28 or some variant bluegrass box, a princeton reverb, my telecaster, a light overdrive, and a tuner.

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: Guitar was something I picked up close to 16 years ago now, and I immediately had a knack for it and became fascinated with looking at album credits. I thought, "wait...there's people who just sit and record? Cool!" I moved to Nashville 12 years ago, and began working on the road a couple years later. Toured the country for 6 years doing all kinds of country festivals and what not. All the while I also tried to pick up work in town working on various recording projects. A couple of years ago I decided to quit traveling to pursue more of that.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: Probably Alison Krauss...she's my favorite vocalist of all time.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Finding a way to translate a clients needs and being flexible.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I want whatever I play to be right for the song. I don't care about being heard...if I were I would try to be a guitar player magazine type of guy. I just want to work for the song.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: UA Apollo twin, Yamaha H8 monitors, and Logic as my DAW. I use various microphones for my acoustics, and have several different cab/mic options on electric as well.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: Lyle Workman, Blake Mills, Gary Paczosa, Michael Landau, Ry Cooder, Bryan Sutton, Ron Block, Jerry Douglas, Bruce Hornsby, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Dan Dugmore, Larry Carlton, Bonnie Raitt, Michael McDonald, Donald Fagen, Jeff Lynne...

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: I primarily add guitar parts as needed on recordings that are in a "skeleton" phase or add input on arrangement to make everything stack well.