Barky

Thanks for checking in to learn a little more about yours truly.

I grew up in the musically-impaired city of Mobile, Alabama. My father was a very talented and entertaining performer yet never had a desire to do more than perform for his friends at their annual bowling league party or the occasional Shriner's bar-b-que. He brought me into his world very early. I learned to play guitar at six and began travelling with him to, what I now see was the percursor to the Bluegrass Festivals we have now. In the 70's and 80's they were called the "Old-Time Fiddler's Convention". There were various categories you could enter such as Fiddle, Band, Vocalist, Group or Duo and even Buck Dancing. You should have seen my mama buck dance. First and second place would win money or sometimes a trophy. I still have a first-place Jr. Soloist trophy from a show in Waynesboro, Mississippi.

Dad was great but not a very good teacher so I had music lessons. I began with guitar and also took percussion and piano lessons. I regret not having paid more attention to the piano but I continued to play percussion through high-school. We had several little groups in highschool and we also had a group in chorus. We performed at the African-American Mardi Gras events in Mobile and were always well received.

I performed with a couple of "honky-tonk" bands through college and beauty school (that's all I'll say about beauty school). We generally made enough money to pay the bills and buy pot. In '86 I got what I considered to be my big-break when a friend offered me his gig in a frat-party band playing -60's and 80's college rock. I jumped at the chance and was soon playing parties in Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Oxford, Athens, Nashville, you get the picture. Too many drugs led me to join the Navy for some soul searching. Upon my return I spent a little more time in Mobile before leaving for Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Murfreesboro and Nashville are where I found my soul. I spent a little over 10 years there and will always consider it my adopted hometown. I attended Middle Tennessee State University and received my B.S. in Recording Industry Management with minors in Music Industry and Mass Communications in 1993. Along the way I made many friends and began performing with the Laughing Storm Dogs. With the recording facilities at MTSU we were able to record a bundle of songs and put together CD's to sell at our gigs. (They are available, by the way. Just send me an email.

After college I worked in a CD store for about three years before working for Ticketmaster in Nashville. That's where I met John Gregory. We began working together with John Wunderlich and Ron (I forget his last name all the time) and thus formed Mostly John. We began performing around Nashville and Murfreesboro while I also continued to play with the Storm Dogs. This went on for a couple of years until my mother had a stroke and my days in Murfreesboro came to an end.

Two-and-a-half years later and I'm back on the game with a new attitude and free-rein. My education, experience and background are what seperates me from the pack. SquishtKitty Productions is about talent, sound and diversity. The music industry is full of money-makers seeking only to control what the public wants to hear. We just want to pay the rent and get your music heard. With a D.I.Y attitude and through grass-roots efforts SquishtKitty Productions strives to get your music to the people who want it. p>

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