His debut album, ‘Fly To The Land Of Z’, will release Summer 2014.

Growing up at the foot of the Rockies in Colorado Springs, my family would watch Hee Haw every Saturday night. Roy Clark’s guitar playing just amazed me. I had my first guitar and briefly took organ lessons when I was 5. I would come home from school and lip sync in the mirror to whatever Top 40 song was on the radio. I was always banging on the dishes at the dinner table with my utensils.

I taught myself to play guitar by learning Rush, Van Halen, Pink Floyd, Def Leppard and other songs by ear. It was all vinyl LPs back then. I would listen to a section, then lift the needle back and play along with it, doing this over and over again. It almost drove my parents crazy! I would adjust my amp to make it sound as close as I could to their sound, and I did my best to mimic their playing as close as possible. I practiced for hours a day this way.

In my teens I played with many different musicians, wrote music and practiced guitar. I took up bass, keyboards and drums. In 1993 I moved to Hollywood California to attend GIT, but was not able to enroll because financial aid would not cover all of my tuition. In 1994, after a major earthquake, fires and mudslides, I was facing homelessness, substance abuse and alcohol addictions. I went back to Colorado and stopped pursuing music. Then, I quit playing altogether and fell into a deep depression. Life was a constant struggle.

I worked hard to be a 9 to 5er, but I never found success. In my heart I knew I wasn't doing the right thing. In 1996, after a 2nd DUI arrest, I hit rock bottom. I prayed and asked God to help me, and the next day I got clean from all drugs. The desire was just gone! I seriously wondered if it was a miracle. In 1997 I got sober from alcohol, and I've been that way ever since. I believe that without God, I would not be alive today.

My son was born in 2002, and when he was 2, he became my inspiration to start being true to myself and stop trying to be something I wasn’t. I knew I had and to start playing guitar again. In July of '04, I started playing bass in a band with some childhood friends. They encouraged me to pursue music again.

In January 2005, after a 10 year hiatus, I bought a guitar and enrolled in a community college. For the next 8 years I continued studying, writing, practicing, and upgrading my studio. The album was completed in 2013 and will release on June 11, 2014, my son’s 12th birthday. Appropriately, it is dedicated to him. It’s as if my whole life is in this record. The title refers to my guitar, a Parker Fly, and my son’s nickname, which is ‘Z’.

All of this has taught me so much but one of the main things is this; never give up on your dreams. Stay true to your heart. Sometimes life gives 2nd chances, so make up your mind today that you're going to do it, and don't waste any more time!