Music Instructor for Guitar, Songwriting, and Clawhammer Banjo

I graduated from Ohio University with a degree in education to teach Language Arts, but music has managed to remain my focus since graduation. I’ve applied my education background to teaching music at Stuart’s Opera House in their after school music program and by teaching private lessons. I have also taught courses on songwriting and music production at Hocking College’s Music Management program. My musical curiosity is always growing; in more recent years, I’ve taken up clawhammer banjo and a love of old time music. I currently offer lessons for guitar, songwriting, and clawhammer banjo.

I’ve been playing music since I was in middle school in Dayton, Ohio and my parents bought my brother and I cheap electric guitars from the pawn shop and enrolled us in lessons. I started out learning Nirvana and alternative rock songs before digging into the classic rock collection of my parents and falling in love with the music of The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead and many more. Those classic rock records also served as a portal to nearly every genre of music, including blues, funk, folk, bluegrass, and jazz. I took it all in and learned the ins and outs of each genre on guitar.

​As I entered college at Ohio University, I became increasingly interested with songwriting and applied my guitar skills and love of music to writing and performing my own original material. I formed my own band, Southeast Engine, and we started playing local clubs before touring regionally and later nationally. I wrote songs and arranged them with my bandmates and we recorded them in local studios. We eventually landed a record deal with the indie label, Misra Records, and embarked on several national tours, receiving a fair bit of critical praise along the way from NPR, Pitchfork, Paste Magazine, Stereogum, and more. 

​I currently live in Athens, Ohio with my wife and two daughters. I’m still writing, recording, and performing my songs, but performing under my own name along with a band of regional musicians.