Bio

Dollar Bills, circa 1980 (L-R: me!, Greg Forbes, Dutch Mason at the Saturday Matinee show)

I started playing harmonica in 1975 when I was living in Kingston, ON where I was born. First regular gig was playing at Dollar Bill's lounge in the Prince George Hotel. We had the Saturday matinee. In those days they had all the great bands (Fabulous T-Birds, Dutch Mason, Sonny and Brownie, you name them, they were there) coming through and we got a few of them up on stage with us during the Saturday matinee. The picture shows one of those occasions - this one with Dutch Mason. That's me on the left and Greg Forbes on guitar with Jamie Campbell on keys.

In 1981 I moved to Toronto and didn't play out much but spent more time learning how to play guitar as well as perfecting my harmonica playing. For five years I played with the Grayceful Daddies, a six piece band; and more recently (2007-2009) formed - Up the Line - a blues duo with Reeves Miller. We were finalists in the Toronto Blues Society Talent Search for 2007.

I currently play guitar and rack harmonica mostly.

In the last couple of years, I've studied harmonica with Mark Stafford and Carlos del Junco. I've also took guitar classes with John Cephas (RIP 1930 - 2009) at Augusta Heritage Blues Week. For six months in 2008, I took weekly lessons from the great Mose Scarlett. Last but not least, ongoing lessons with talented guitarist Jay Danleyt.

Gear

Amps: 1)NEW! HargGear HG 35 watt amp. Harpgear 2. '62 Premier 120. See Premier catalogue from 1962. (PDF)

Guitars: 1) Larrivee OMN5

Tools: 1)My simple homemade bench 2) Some tools