I have always had a great passion for boogie woogie. As a child I stood just above the keyboard listening to my uncle play the piano and my other uncle playing the clarinet. I would watch his left hand roll up and down those bass notes independent of the right. My other uncle leaning back almost at a 45 degree angle would be waling on that long thin wooden tube. Then came Jerry Lee Lewis and Bill Haley and The Comets. By this time, at the age of 10, I was playing trombone in the school band and hating it, faking it by ear and never showing up for practice. At 12, I had a few months of piano lessons and was told to stop pounding and I quit. The piano was always out of tune anyway. Surfs Up at 16 and the blonde surfer boy starts surfing daily and listening to every surf album I could. There was Dick Dale, The Ventures Jan and Dean, Herb Alpert and finally the Beach Boys. In came the psychedelic era. Oh boy what a trip. At 18, I would go to the Fillimore East and other clubs in the Big Apple and hear Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Dylan, Canned Heat, etc. I moved to California at 18, continued surfing and picked up a McCartney bass. At the University of California, I would go to Led Zeppelin concerts till 2 am on the campus green and attend student sit ins. Then came Leo Kotke, he ceased to amaze me on how he made his guitar sound like 3 guitars at one time. It prompted me to buy my first guitar, a 1971 Guild classical small body and took off to Europe about the age of 22, hitchhiked on to Nepal and trekked into Tibet. I played a lot of guitar for those two years and was exposed to many types of instruments and musicians. Surprisingly my guitar made it there and back to the land of United We Stand in one piece - only to be played occasionally over the next 25 years.

Now comes my B-12 shot. In December of 2000 I watched Martin Simpson play ten feet in front of me for two hours and was absolutely blown away. His technical refinement and oneness with his instrument was remarkable. I bought Martin's used Stefan Sobell guitar, a phenomenal guitar and I started attending every workshop I could and then sponsoring them. Watching, watching, listening and listening. Since I saw Martin, I have been playing 15- 20 hours a week for the past five years. So, here I am with my first CD coming out Feb 15th, playing lots of different instruments, and have included a few fine musicians. This CD evolved from different times and head places. It was recorded between my studio and Wellspring Sound in Acton Mass. I am currently working on a 2nd CD with new exciting, difficult, and challenging material.

Sincerely,

Bob Merrigan