Growing up, my folks had hundreds of records. I remember every Bob Dylan album to date; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; John Denver; Peter, Paul and Mary; Joan Baez; A BeeGees album, some Motown, and something I think was called a Folk Box. My father listened to Bob Dylan with surprising intensity, a rare display of passion. I listened to see what moved him so. I remember Bob singing and me hearing about Woody and Sonny and Cisco and Leadbelly and Pete Seeger. When I opened the Folk Box, there was 4 or 5 different albums, listing the names of those people I had some how heard of. I listed to the Folk Box here and there, only partially remembering its contents. I, like my father, became a Bob Dylan fan. Around the same time, I had a music teacher in elementary school that probably was a folkie, cause she was teaching us Woody Guthrie Songs and all kinds of Traditional songs that I only recognize now.

Fast Forward, In high school I became a fan of Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, The Grateful Dead and the like. In interviews, I kept hearing them talk about a fellow named Robert Johnson. Always one to figure out influences of whom I respect, I went out and got The Complete Recordings of Robert Leroy Johnson. I owned it for 2 years before I understood it, and grew to be mesmerized by it by college. In the years to follow, I began finding new magical music, Leadbelly, Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee... seemingly blues, but apparently down that line right between folk and blues. Then Woody and Pete Seeger, Big Bill Broonzy, Tom Paxton, Bill Monroe and Doc Watson etc. I would order Smithsonian Folkways compilations and discover a new great one every time. Color me a fan.

Then one thing happened to seal the deal with me and folk. I went to a gathering! The people I met and the music I heard had to be the finest in the world... and they were people like me. I knew that this was right... Then I started this little thing called the Mudcat Cafe, the best folk Web site in all the world.