Bio
Bio
I was raised in the Chicago and midwestern folk scene of the 1970s and 80s. My Dad was Chicago based folksinger Art Thieme So, I spent a good portion of my youth in midwestern clubs and coffee houses surrounded by the great folk musicians of the era. In the late 80s, I worked as a deckhand on the Julia Belle Swain, one of the last sternwheel steamships on the Mississippi River. Got to hang out with John Hartford and my dad in between locks and scrubbing decks. Came of age on that boat.
And across that same street in Chicago where Steve Goodman and the Holstein brothers had their clubs was WaxTrax! records. An infusion of industrial, dance, expirimental dark and ambient and an outlet for the full spectrum of DIY music. I found the 4AD label there, and the way Ivo Watts engineered silence and sound figured deep. The two camps may have maintained their sides of Lincoln Ave, but both fed a foundation.
Fact is, I'm just a guy who works a job and raises a family in a small town in Illinois. I built myself something that resembles a recording studio in my garage. And sometimes, when everyone's asleep, I pick up a guitar or a banjo or a musical saw left by my father, and play the songs I grew up with to be with those I miss and see how close I can get to that sense so many amazing musicians gave me.
I'm no musician. But maybe, just maybe, I might turn out to be an OK folksinger. Here's to hopin'.
