When you’ve been playing music for a long time (don’t ask) and someone wants to know who your influences were it doesn’t seem to matter as much as it did when you were just starting out. After a certain point it seems there are just too many to list and you also realize that you’re never going to be anyone but yourself and yourself becomes more clearly defined and developed with time and experience (in roughly an inverse proportion to your thinning hair) . But, what the hell, I’ll tell you anyway. My appreciation for rock music started when Buffalo Springfield put just enough folk in their rock to make it feel like it belonged to me... like the dust on my shoes (only better). Luckily about that same time I had a friend who had an ear for the beginnings of country-rock what with the Byrds and all (especially with Clarence White) and I reckon opening those early musical doorways (oh, and I shouldn’t forget the “San Francisco sound”) started me out in a direction that despite many a twist and turn I’m still generally heading in today. (All this despite the fact that my favorite all-time album remains a Muggsy Spanier album that was recorded in 1939, but, my music sounds not at all like that, so, never mind.) Up to this point I’ve only had one song recorded by a famous person and that would be Ricky Skaggs who did a beautiful rendition of a song called “Nothing Can Hurt You” on his “Highways and Heartaches” album. (I finally have recorded my own version of that tune on my album called, “Keesha’s Dream”.) Playing mostly in San Francisco area bands, I’ve met some fantastic players and singers and,believe me, they’re on this album in spades. My favorite color is... Well, I’m starting to get a cramp in my left pinky and I’m running out of ideas. Let’s just say this is a cd full of very catchy tunes that will stick in your brain without pissing you off. If you like ice cream you’ll probably love this cd (and you can listen over and over without gaining a pound). John Salz Glen Ellen, CA