I turned 7 years old in the back seat of a 1954 Nash Rambler with my brother and sister. We were on the way west to our new home in Oklahoma. I grew up there, started a family of my own there and began my career in broadcasting and music there. 33 years later I moved to Texas and then 23 years after that to New Mexico but Oklahoma is still where I call home. I have been writing and singing my own songs for the past 30 years and many of them were written in or about my Oklahoma home. I have picked a baker’s dozen to share to celebrate my 30th year of songwriting and my 50th High School Reunion Year. As a reference point for the songs: Our first stop was Tulsa (May 1956) then Bartlesville (September 1956) for the first semester of the 2nd grade. I finished the second grade in Enid (1957) then the summer of 1960 we moved to Tahlequah and that’s where the roots went deep in the flint rock and limestone foothills of the Ozarks. After high school, I made a side trip back to Enid (1967-69), Stillwater (1969-1971), Ada (1971-1976), Edmond/Oklahoma City (1976-1979) then frequent trips back to Tahlequah from Houston, Texas to visit friends and family as well as play music to pay for the trips. We got to hang out in Tulsa at The Rivers Edge Café, and Borders Books. We also got to play at the Tin Shop (that was the place but I can’t for the life of me remember the name of the coffee house and listening room that occupied that great space), Iguana Café and most frequently at Elephant Rock Nature Park. In the sake of total honesty, all these songs are absolutely true. I haven't even changed the names. Having said that, there is one exception. The song "One Step" is only 1/4 true. The conversation with a then young and not yet famous rodeo clown Quail Dobbs did take place back at a rodeo in 1972 in Ada, Oklahoma. I was an equally young news cameraman and not a rodeo cowboy. I did volunteer for the army and Viet Nam in 1969 but flunked my physical and finished the war with a 4-F status. They descriptions of the war are from conversations with friends who did pass their physicals and spent time "in country". To them I send my appreciation and admiration for a tough job done well.