Yep, grew up playing trombone in band, and string bass in orchestra, and played guitar and electric bass in basement rock bands. I went to a conservatory for college and stopped playing guitar and bass. Got a degree in Music History, went into the classical/jazz music biz for a couple decades, then my own non-music biz for a couple decades, and never played anything for all those years.

Then I was going stir crazy during the pandemic quarantine, going nuts from daytime TV, so in 2020 I took up the electric guitar, and got back to it.

I improved quickly, but about 18 months ago, I got into fingerstyle, and now I’m obsessed. All I ever wanted was to be able to play well enough to get through entire songs, and entertain myself. With finger picking, I can do that. I have a strong music background, so I don’t use tabs, I just create my own arrangements.

The result has been amazing for my mental health. I came to realize that I had been operating with a low-grade depression for a long time, maybe most of my life, but playing the guitar has lifted most of that. That’s how I knew I had been depressed - when it improved. It had just become my baseline existence.

Favorite things to play? I’m all over the place, from classical tunes, to modern songs. Some of my favorite pieces to play are two songs by Stephen Foster - a lullaby called Slumber My Darling, and a beautiful ballad called Hard Times, Come Again No More, which was Foster’s own personal favorite, and the song he used to sing in taverns for free drinks as a broke, degenerate alcoholic.

It’s so satisfying to sit on the front porch on a sunny late afternoon, looking out over the pond, and play my own music. If I was a religious person, I’d say it was one of God’s greatest gifts.