The recordings of the New Lost City Ramblers initiated my interest in rural
string band music and resulted in my joining Connecticut's infamous Blue Eagle Boys in 1964. A few years later I became part of an
outrageous jug band named the Golden Nectar Good Time Band. By 1971, we were booked to play the epitome of folk festivals, the Newport
Folk Festival, but the unruly behavior of fans led to the cancellation of the festival and the dissolution of that band.
My next endeavor was with an acoustic western swing band named Bull Durham but the need for legitimate employment quickly pulled
that group apart. Following my move to Torrington, CT to take a teaching position at the UConn Branch in that town, I contacted
a bluegrass musician whom I had met when I subbed for the fiddle player in his band. His name was Phil Zimmerman and that was the beginning of Last Fair Deal. We soon had a heavy playing schedule in the Hartford area and became serious about creating our vision of an eclectic acoustic ensemble capable of playing a range of material of unheard of proportion.
Over the next twenty odd years, that was my main music gig. During my sabbatical from that band, I found myself playing country
music during the line dance craze of the 1990's performing with Wild Horse, Tennessee Connection, Rodeo Drive and others. During
that period I kept a foot in acoustic music co-founding the New York based bluegrass group American Flyer. Recently, I've been
playing the bluegrass festival circuit with Mike Burns' North County. All along, I've continued to jam on a weekly basis with
Paul developing material in preparation for the time that Last Fair Deal would once again take to the stage as the prototypical
Twenty-First Century string band.
