My love of music started back in 1958, when I was six years old. That Christmas, my parents bought me a Roy Rogers guitar.

Back then, everyone on Drummond Island knew me as “Dude.” Drummond Island is a small community in Northern Michigan, where I grew up on a farm with horses. Roy Rogers was my hero.

Our little school on Drummond Island actually had a music teacher, Mrs. Yorty. During music class one day, I mentioned that I had a guitar at home. She asked if I would like to learn how to play it.

She taught me the three chords to Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.”

Looking back, I’m grateful that our small community provided a music program like that, and especially grateful to Mrs. Yorty for taking the time to teach a six-year-old boy how to play his first song. I may not have been as gifted as Roy or Woody, but those three chords helped create a love of music that has stayed with me throughout my life.

Now, semi-retired at age 74, I finally have the time and energy to pursue music in a different direction—writing songs that take me back to the music and memories of when I was young.

Wanting these songs to be the very best they could be, I listened carefully to feedback from a few close friends and spent time taking online classes and Zoom tutoring in songwriting and guitar. When it came time to record the songs, I worked with several producers before finally settling on a London-based professional whose skills, musicians, and vocalists brought the songs to life in a way I had been searching for.

Some of the songs featured here took more than a decade to complete, with countless revisions along the way. In searching for the right musical recipe to convey each storyline, I discovered that some of the same lyrics and chord progressions could work beautifully in completely different genres. Because of that, I’ll be releasing two of the songs in more than one version.

This has truly been a childhood dream and, without question, a labor of love.

My songs cross several genres and reflect the different sounds that have spoken to me throughout my life. I sincerely hope that somewhere among them, you find a song that speaks to you, too.