This projects starts as a turn of events on the path of my life. In 2009, I was running a successful local IT business in Evansville, Indiana. I was married, had three kids, and a steady income. In a lot of ways, my life was easy, but something was missing.
Music has always been a part of my life. I grew up in a musical household, writing my first song at the age of 4, and performing at ice cream socials with my dad as early as I can remember. Many weekends were spent playing music at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. As a teen, I got involved in contest fiddling, and focused hard on musical excellence, competing on a national level, and studying with some of the best. As a college student, I chose the practical road, and left a music performance degree program to focus on computer engineering.
As life has its way of throwing us curve balls, things changed for me, and I ended up leaving my business in Indiana, and traveling back to Northern Colorado, the land of my family, a place where the sun shines in a blue sky, and live music is plentiful. In this move, I knew that music would be a larger part of my life, but I had no idea how, or how large.
I was in the process of getting divorced, and there was a lot of uncertainty in my life. Sometimes through hard times, we have the greatest opportunities to grow, and to recenter ourselves.
I signed on with Magnolia Music Studio as their fiddle teacher. I have taught fiddle lessons since I was in high school, but it had not been my primary income since graduating college. And, through one of my fiddle students, Kim Schug, I ended up joining a bluegrass band, Neargrass Junction.
It was through my personal struggle, seeking God, my joy in teaching fiddle lessons, and a long conversation with Kim Schug on the way to a gig in Evergreen that I became crystal clear that inspiring people in music was going to be the mission in the next chapter of my life.
I love music, and I want to inspire as many people as I can to love music. And, that’s what the String Theory Project is all about.
