Belladonna (89-91)

Before anyone knew the name, there were the songs.
Belladonna was the beginning, a band few heard of, but whose songs would go on to shape everything. One of them was “Once Again”, a track that would later get us signed.

Drive (EARLY '90s)

A national recording act. We joined, and Drive officially recorded and published “Once Again.”
We toured across the U.S., recorded in Los Angeles, and were preparing to open for Extreme in Europe.
Then Nirvana broke.
The entire landscape of rock shifted, and Drive’s momentum vanished overnight.

Stranger (MID 90s)

Rudy and I started over with a new project. We tried to get signed through existing label contacts. No one called back.
Still, a song called “Sunrise in Buffalo” came from this time, later to reappear on The Windows.

Austin & Tierra Madre (2000–2001)

I moved to Austin, committed to finding my own sound as a guitarist.
Rudy invited me to join his Spanish rock band based in Houston. I joined, and the long drives between cities became the soundtrack of my inner rebuild.
It was during this stretch I found a tiny ad in Guitar Player magazine: CD Baby.

Back on the Street (2001)

We gathered the original Belladonna demos, songs written before Drive, and burned them to CD.
Printed the inserts ourselves. Sold them through CD Baby.
We didn’t know what would happen.
They sold out.

The Windows (2002)

Our first professionally released album.
1,000 CDs pressed by Disc Makers. Full lyric booklets. Posters. The real deal.
We hit the road across Texas to sell them by hand.
Songs like “Shamed,” “It’s Alright,” “ Sunrise in Buffalo”, and “I Still Believe” told the truth we were living.
This wasn’t the beginning. It was the moment I took back the reins.

The Teaching Years Begin (early 2000's–present)

As the momentum of The Windows era began to settle, I quietly stepped into teaching.
What started as a way to stay grounded became a lifeline.

I studied music more deeply than ever.
I studied the instrument. I studied teaching itself.
And I wrote a book: The Key to Guitar.

That book became the foundation of what I now call the Dojo, a complete arc that guides students from their very first notes to becoming confident, expressive, and self-sufficient artists.
It’s not about flash, it’s about fluency, clarity, and musical identity.

Teaching gave me a second life.
It helped me understand the guitar not just as a player, but as a translator of emotion, intention, and personal truth.

Four Now (2008)

A four-song EP recorded with world-class producers Dan Workman and Steve Christensen.
Included “Days Like This” and “No One Here to Save Me.”
We opened for Styx. A brief, bright fire that carried us forward.

2013 Demo

Another spark in the silence.
This demo included songs like “New Ground”, “Shapes of Things” (Tribute to Gary Moore) and “The Embers.”
A sign that something deeper was still alive.

Three Deaths and an Awakening (2015–2020)

I lost my mother in 2015.
My father in 2018.
And somewhere in between, I lost the younger version of myself, the one who still thought the world would come calling.

What followed wasn’t just grief. It was a dismantling.

 “Going to war with myself and returning intact"

The Long Dark Night (2020–2025)

Out of that silence came a new voice. A re-emergence.

The Long Dark Night is a document of survival.
A set of songs born not for show, but for healing.

I’m re-emerging, with everything I’ve lived, lost, and reclaimed.

Because this is proof:

That a nobody can keep going.

That your songs don’t forget you, even when you forget them.

That silence isn’t the end, it’s a turning point.

Play on!