Music has been a friend to me for as long as I can remember. My grandfather used to play a mean piano to put me to sleep when I would spend summers in Yorkville Georgia. He played on a Winter New York player piano that stayed in the family until time and clumsy movers sent it to player piano heaven.

I doubt I can remember all of the people and bands I have played with, but it all started in Irmo, South Carolina around my 12^th year of life. Some of the early bands were “The Talisman” “The Hollow Body” “The Regals” and others in Middle and High School. If I were to try to name the people that played in those bands with me I would end up naming almost everyone, or at least their brother, that I knew in high school.

The draft helped me decide to join the Navy Sea Bees to avoid certain time in Viet Nam. A good choice indeed! I met Gary Heusler, Chris Griffin, and a ton of musicians that were sharing the experience of the times. Gary, Chris, and I had a country band that played on the weekends for extra cash, but the music I preferred was played at home on acoustic guitars. Gary and I had a place off base and would jam at every opportunity. It was there that I found my love for playing Beatles, CSN&Y, and the like. I’ve played many kinds of music since, but the old hippy stuff remains my favorite.

Back from serving my country I met Jan Janicki and Lee Scholnick which led to the formation of “Chris Jan & Lee” an acoustic group playing music ranging from CSN&Y to Led Zeppelin. That later developed into “Kyre” with the addition of Mark and David Kyre. We put the acoustic boxes aside and turned it up w/ electricity.

I later joined up with Sammy and Karen Lyles to form “The Lyles Gurley Band” and play more acoustic music. If you are starting to see a trend here then you have guessed that we eventually found a drummer and a bass player and went electric once more. At that point we were called “Featherstone”.

On down the road I met Larry Cromer and became one of the many that made up Jerico through the years. I was strictly a keyboard player in this variety band, but we sang a lot of harmony, and to me singing harmony is what it is all about.

Years have passed now and I am still ready to play. Acoustic music will be my venue, and I’ll still be playing the stuff I really like. If it turns out that I have to set up the keyboards and get electric again, you can bet that it will be the electric version of the good stuff.