More about my album "People Like You"

Ever since I learned how to play the guitar I had dreamed of making my own record album, and be just like "the big kids." So, in the fall of 1976 I had purchased a 4-track recording deck with exactly this goal in mind. I had a few bits of songs recorded at a studio by my friend, Dick Von Trebra, so I took those, slapped them on the deck and started off piecing together an album of my original songs.
I had recently bought a couple of $18 microphones from Radio Shack, and with my acoustic guitar, a borrowed electric guitar, my parent's spinet piano, a harmonica (which I didn't know how to play), a shaker and a tin whistle, my palette of sounds was intact!

The next 3 or 4 months were one of the most magical times of my life! I had everything set up in a bedroom at my folk's house, and I would go over there on a semi-regular basis, pop on the headphones and enter my world of music. I was living in a heaven of music and I had never felt so free or fulfilled ever before in my life. I had the usual grandiose feelings that every day-dreaming musician has; I'd finish a track, sit back, do a rough mix, and giggle with delight inside, thinking, "man, this is going to blow them away!" or "Dan Fogelberg ain't got nothin' on me!

Well, with a little help from my folks, the album "People Like You" manifested in the fall of 1977. I proudly gave most of my 200 copies away, and actually had a DJ play it on the radio, and was interviewed for an article called "One Man Band" in the local entertainment guide in Madison, WI.

I have gone on to record other albums in studios with excellent equipment, using all kinds of instruments, synthesizers, etc. and yet, there has always been something to this record that reaches me very deeply and fulfills me every time I listen to it. The sound quality is marginal; my voice is young; I had no mixing board to mix it on, just twiddled the knobs on the tape recorder, and yet somehow I managed to capture a feeling that doesn't seem to fade over time. I've often wondered what that was -- I think I know now -- every note on this album was soaked in my love for the music; that was the only thing I did it for, just simply the love for music - ENJOY!