A New Start...

I'm new to this in a way. Long ago, a lifetime almost, I was a working musician, playing solo acoustic gigs in Virginia and North Carolina. I was paying my way through school and trying to figure out what to do with my life. I don't feel like I ever really sorted the life part out, but I went off on a series of adventures as a soldier and a diplomat that lasted 25 years. I worked in places like Rwanda, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Darfur. And I came home pretty badly damaged. When traditional therapy and medication didn't help much, I turned to writing. I tried to write my way home. That story is in a book I wrote called Seriously Not All Right: Five Wars in Ten Years. You can find it if you want.

A couple of years ago, I came back to music. I started writing songs as the next step on my road home. Some of the stories are about returning veterans and their families, some aren't. But I've just completed work on a five-track EP titled Trying to Catch Amnesia of songs that are. The tracks are below and you can download digital copy of the EP, too. 

I got in a few public performances before the Covid-19 virus hit. More often than not, I slipped in between a friend's sets to play a few songs. But a big part of what I do with my literary writing and my songs is directed at trying to reduce the stigma of asking for help when you're struggling with PTSD, depression, or a TBI. So I also built a longer show that included readings from my memoir and a discussion of how music and writing can help with PTSD.  I hope I can get back to doing live shows again, soon.