One Busy Guy

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Steve's Influence Page Nearly everyone is curious about what influences and inspires an artist. People ask about it every day! What kinds of artists do I listen to and how has it affected me? It's as though they expect hard rockers would listen only to Metallica, or folk guitarists should listen only to James Taylor etc. In truth I prefer music without lyrics of any kind such as instrumental jazz and classical baroque. Many listeners request songs performed by those I 'sound like'. It's almost as if there is some private victory to be had if they can 'guess' what I know based on how I sound. Though I have often aspired to sound as good as those whom I admire, I really have made no attempt to sound like anyone in particular. Kids start out in pursuit of those things to which they are exposed. My small hometown had only one AM radio station. In fact our family had only one radio as well! I sang in the church choir along with my brother. I took clarinet lessons and did my best in talent shows. You didn't do much singing with a clarinet in your face and I was soon off to find some way to accompany myself. Dad had a chance to bring home a banjo and I felt it was his way of discouraging me from the pursuit of pop music. Eventually I mowed enough lawns to buy a decent guitar and set about trying to unravel the great mystery. I suppose as any artist I've passed through certain phases of influence and admiration. The very first song I ever tried to play on the guitar was the Beatle's 'Day Tripper'... of course I had to play the entire lick on one string but it was performed with feeling! Obviously the Beatles were big with everyone during those years; so were Cream, the Monkees, Jimmy Hendrix, and the Raiders as well. Now when listening to some of those admired and professional recordings I am frequently shocked to hear the relatively shaky level of performances. Technology has improved to such an extent that I can get a better quality sound from my own modest studio. Eventually I hooked up with other musicians of the day and we set about duplicating the best of that time including Simon and Garfunkel as well as a variety of folk entertainers. The times were post Woodstock and CSNY were big. I had gotten into a 7 piece high school band with two female singers. We sang at folk services and performed songs like 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother', and 'Leaving On A Jet Plane'. We did a lot of practicing without discernable improvement! When solo singer guitarists appeared on the scene I was right there in the groove. I paced around Mom's kitchen 'til the wee hours trying to master the changes of 'You've got a Friend'. This is roughly about when I struck out on my own leaving behind the band members and female singers. Very soon John Denver came along and I had to do my best to master those tunes as well as many from Jim Croce, Neil Young and Cat Stevens. Elton John was also huge at this time and although I wanted to absorb this energy it was rather clumsy since Elton performed on the piano. (Songs written and arranged for piano are notoriously awkward for the guitar.

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