Bio

Brad was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and spent his early childhood in New Orleans, moving to Mississippi and then to the Houston, Texas area by the time he started 6th grade. He started playing cornet in the school band at that time and shortly afterwards got a guitar and some guitar leassons to get him started. In 8th grade he switched from cornet to French horn in the school band. Growing up in the '70's, he became interested and was influenced by the music of Pink Floyd, Boston, Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Yes, Peter Frampton, Kansas, Heart, and many other classic rock artists of the time. There was also no avoiding being influenced by a great deal of funk, soul, and disco that was playing on the top 40 stations of the time. As he was about to start high school, his stepfather took a job with a deepwater drilling company, and Brad found himself suddenly moving to Cairo, Egypt, where he attended high school for three years. With no tv or radio to distract him, he threw himself into practicing guitar, trying less to copy than to learn to improvise and create new music. With only a couple of lessons a year to guide him, he nevertheless learned enough to play guitar in the school jazz-rock ensemble. He continued to play french horn in the band as well and took some piano lessons, which provided him with a basic background in music theory. In 1980 he was awarded the school's highest award for achievement in music for his numerous performances and involvement. Brad spent his senior year of high school in Singapore, and continued to travel and absorb other cultures. Upon graduation in 1981, he returned to the States to attend college at North Texas State University, majoring in Jazz Studies. The amount of talent there in Denton, Texas was incredible, and he was here exposed to a great deal more jazz and learned jazz theory. He played rhythm guitar in an eight-piece R&B band called Dr. Trash and the Funkmonsters, performing at parties and clubs in Denton and nearby Dallas. He finished his music education at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Applied Music. He was married in 1987 and since he didn't want to teach, he went to work in the food service industry and moved to Houston, Texas, where he ended up in the car sales business and played in the Houston bands Mountain of Joy and S/he. He had begun recording at home on a Fostex four-track tape recorder in college, and some of the recordings here are from those early four-track recordings in Hammond and Houston. Introduced to the computer early on, he started recording at home on the computer in 1998, and continues to learn new ways of using the computer to help create music.