was 12 when my mom bought me a $25 electric guitar. I had an uncle who was a preacher, and his family had a gospel singing group. He played guitar in church, and I used to watch him. I became obsessed with the guitar. I locked myself in my bedroom for the better part of a year and taught myself chords. I'd try to learn things off records. (2004)

usic was huge for me. I loved playing the guitar and playing in a band and just hanging out with guys who loved music and pretty much felt the same way about s…

My brother] turned me on to Van Morrison and Bob Dylan. I remember listening to the soundtracks to A Clockwork Orange and Last Tango in Paris. I loved Aerosmit…

I was more interested in music than anything else. Music was like life. I had found a reason to live. (2004)

'For me,' he explains his mammoth project, 'it is an obligation to know and learn to understand the various styles living within the guitar, to work with them …

When I was maybe nine years old, I listened to the entire Beatles catalogue, non-stop, for about a year, being a naive child, I didn't know who sang what song.…

My music had roots which I'd dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.