I was born March 20, 1946 (making me the senior Time Jumper in age if not in service!) at Great LakesNavalTrainingCenter in Lake County, Illinois.

My dad (a doctor) and mom (a former nurse) were from the opposite ends of Michigan, and we moved back there after a bit, but Korea called and we moved to California, then Massachusetts, before I settled down and went to high school and college in Michigan, graduating from the University of Michigan in 1968. I had a comfortable suburban upbringing.  My Mom's family were Finns from the jackpine and timber wolf country of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and had grown up listening to country and cowboy music on the National Barn Dance, which they heard on WLS out of Chicago; my uncles Hank and Arvid both played guitar and sang with my mom, and it was only natural that I'd take the old guitar down from the wall and try to bang on it myself. That was more than 50 years ago and I'm still banging.

 I was more interested in sports in high school (football, hockey, track) than music, but I was in glee club and the school plays and all that. During the big folk scare of the sixties several of us took up guitar, and another guy who played blue grass roped me into playing with him because he needed a rhythm player. I played a lot of blue grass in college and even toured with Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys between my junior and senior year in 1967. That decided me on trying a career in music; I came to Nashville immediately after graduation in 1968, ostensibly to get a Masters at Vanderbilt (which I did get in 1971) but basically to play music. I played with Monroe one more time (1969), again for a few months only, then Jimmy Martin, then worked a succession of day jobs and played on the weekends cause I'd also managed have two wonderful daughters, Liza and Sally.

Not being a soloist I got kind of interested in other guitar styles, and became a "swing junkie" as Andy Reiss likes to call it, in the 70s, and played a lot of western swing.... in fact that's where I first met Hoot Hester: playing western swing and old cowboy music with Buddy Spicher at his occasional jamborees. Hoot and I also played some bluegrass at the time, but he and I were both interested in other things. I rediscovered the Sons of the Pioneers in about 1975-- saw them live at a western swing festival--and realized this is the music for me: sweeping poetic lyrics, great loping beat, complicated chord changes, beautiful soaring harmony, and yodeling (which I could always do.... Uncle Arvid yodeled). Slim and I formed Riders in the Sky in November of 1977.

As for The Riders: Good God we've been busy! 35 or so albums (on Rounder, MCA, Columbia, Time-Life, Disney, Rhino, and Oh Boy, plus my solo album on Warner Western), several movie appearances, members of the Grand Ole Opry since 1982, over 200 national TV appearances, 3 television series (2 on The Nashville Network, one on CBS), been Western Music Association Entertainers of the year 6 times, Western Music Hall of Fame Members since 1992 (the first contemporary group inducted), won 4 Wrangler awards from the Cowboy Hall of Fame, nominated for six Grammys (two with the Time Jumpers!) and won two (best Musical album for Children, 2001 and 2003).  The Riders have played all 50 states, been overseas many times, and have made well over 5,600 appearances (not shows, appearances; if you counted shows we'd be up toward 10,000 I'll bet!).  It's been a great career. Had three more wonderful kids along the way, Annie Laurie and James and of course Grace.

As a deep lover of western swing I just had to check out The Time Jumpers when I first heard about them, and since Hoot and I are old friends, and I'd jammed with him and Kenny and Rick at the Opry; they were kind enough to invite me up to sing every time I showed up, though I sure didn't want to intrude. I loved the sensibility of a bunch of the very best players keeping this music alive just because they loved it. It made me itch to play, and gentleman Johnny Cox, bless his XXL heart, kept inviting me, almost insisting, to just sit in and play if that's what I wanted to do. So I kept showing up with my guitar and nobody took me aside and told me to go home, and one day I was suddenly, in the winter of 2002, a Time Jumper, which is a huge thrill for me. 

I especially love The Time Jumpers because it is such an egoless band. Of course we all have strong egos to have survived this long in the music business, but it's really an all for one and one for all experience up there: who ever is singing or soloing is totally supported by the rest; everyone either adds the perfect lick or support, or lays out if it would be too busy. We rejoice at each other's successes and laugh at each other's mistakes and nobody takes themselves too seriously yet the level of musicianship is so incredibly high that the music is always really really good, very often great. And what a thrill to be part of the rhythm section the Tennessean (wasn't it?) called Nashville's best!

The group has so evolved: Hoot and Johnny Cox have left, Aubrey and Dawn have returned, Joe and Paul come on board since I’ve been there, and of course the legendary John Hughey graced us with his final few years; still the dream continues, the fun continues, and the audience and reputation and fan base continues to grow.  What an incredible blessing for all of us.