I chose the autoharp because it made songwriting easier. Once again, I get to share my songs with the California Autoharp Gathering.

It was 1997. My last rock band broke up. I had a guitarist who was writing MUCH better songs than I was. It was time for a change.

I borrowed an autoharp from my dad when I first went off to college. I asked for it because of the novelty of the instrument. It was different. But I never played it until my band broke up.

Initially, I just decided to learn to play the autoharp. I picked up a songbook by Meg Peterson. I started by learning strum patterns.
I started playing music because I wanted to be a songwriter. Every time I learned a new strum pattern, I wrote a song. That's how it all started.

What was fascinating was how easy it was to write songs with the autoharp. There's so much depth to the instrument, five octaves. There's layer upon layer of sound there. Writing melodies was a breeze.

Five months later, I recorded my very first album Geography, under the name Ichabod Zeuss. I was still pursuing music as an acoustic, indie alt-rocker. However, it wasn't until 1999 when I started the Brobdingnagian Bards with Andrew McKee that I began writing songs that I thought were good.

Over twenty years later and I am honored to take my autoharp and much better songwriting skills back to the California Autoharp Gathering in 2019. I hope to see you there!

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