I’ve always had two passions in life – music and the natural environment. I took piano lessons growing up and studied music in college for two years at the University of North Texas. But because I wanted to work outdoors more than I wanted to play indoors, I changed schools, programs, and geographies and got a forestry degree from the University of Montana. However, as soon as I was finished school, I embarked on a music career in Portland, Oregon. I played regularly in groups with Calvin Walker, Rebecca Kilgore, Ron Steen, Shirley Nanette, and others.
After being gainfully employed, and unemployed, as a musician in Portland for a number of years, I decided I needed steadier work. So I returned to graduate school for more science education – this time, a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering. I worked for 25 years as the regional hydrologist for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and just recently retired in August 2020. It was a great job but I was ready to play instead of work.
You can probably sense the left brain/right brain conflict in my career choices. The more I focus on left-brain, logical, scientific tasks, the more my right brain feels pulled to play music and be creative, and vice-versa. It’s not nearly as well-balanced as it sounds. It’s more like a tug-of-war. And I’ve always got half a mind to quit! Nonetheless, I’m back to making music full-time now, and living in a small town in central Oregon called Hood River, where we moved about 20 years ago. It isn’t the best location to advance a music career but it is a great place to live and raise a family.