I don't know if one could count the talent show I produced in my parent's basement before a handful of neighbor kids. For that I lip-synced Bing Crosby's rendition of "Deep Purple". My public debut was delayed for some years due to losing the class competition to Stuart Brown for the "O Holy Night" solo in fifth grade. Three years later I had taught what little I knew then of guitar playing to my buddy, Keith Behner, with whom I performed "Red River Valley" and a Kingston Trio song called, "South Wind". This was at a brief intermission arranged for us by the Sisters during an eighth grade dance at Keith's school.

I really can't recall my first solo performance. I nearly always performed in a duo or trio. If I had to guess it would have to be when I performed at a church coffeehouse in Annandale, Virginia during the winter or early spring of 1966. A local artist commemorated my appearance with a lovely watercolor, which I still have, of me on the stage there.