For years I struggled to find a way all my own to show off, to find an original Orange Blossom Special if you will. At age 21 I thought I would be the next National Flatpicking Champ. Went to the contest, saw how far all the top guns had come, and chucked that idea. Next I was going to be the National Fingerpicking Champion. Then I saw how far all those top guns had gone. I knew clawhammer banjo wasn't going to get it, and I knew I would never be the next Vassar Clements, or Mark O'Connor, so I thought about it for quite a few years, and decided to do what I do best, sing.

I still needed an Orange Blossom Special. And I hit upon the idea of yodeling. Learned how to yodel while doing a janitor job. I'm sure my supervisor thought I had taken complete leave of my senses when he found me early one morning about the break of still-dark-outside, bending over and scrubbing out a toilet in the ladies' john, and yodeling at the top of my voice. Is there any other way to do it?

When I felt confident enough to spring my new found skill on an unsuspecting public, a noisy bar on the north side of town, I tore the house down. Surprised? Yup. Tickled pink? You betcha. And it works every time. Oh yeah, I wrote the song I yodeled. Quite aptly it is called The Yodeling Cowboy.