I was blessed with great mentors and wonderful experiences in the early years of my career. While hanging out in Gastown in Vancouver, I met a fine country-blues singer/songwriter from California named Tim Williams, who took me under his wing and taught me all kinds of cool licks. Tim was one of the first people I ever met who had a major label record deal.

I also had the great good fortune of learning some chops from one of Canada's finest blues players, Morgan Davis, who wrote Colin James' big hit "Why'd You Lie."

One of the five people in the audience audience at my first open mic appearance was a singer/songwriter from Ottawa by the name of Thom Roberts. He had brought along his friend Alan Katowitz, a professional photographer who
recorded that first gig in black and white.

Thom invited me to open for him and sit in on a few tunes at the Gastown Saloon two weeks later. Alan captured our rehearsals on film. Click on the images to see more.

Aside from its lively coffeehouse scene, Gastown was also home to Vancouver's first listener-supported alternative radio station,
CFRO 102.7. The studio was built on the top floor of a heritage building next to Pigeon Park. Co-Op Radio was a major hangout for fledgling musicians like me who spent quite a bit of time busking on the streets.

Climbing the ancient marble staircase for the first time in 1974, I didn't realize I was about to become part of Vancouver's broadcasting history. Volunteers were still putting the finishing touches on the wiring and plumbing, and everything was covered in plaster dust (which resulted in frequent trips to the seedy wharfside bar down the block to wet the collective whistle).

Wandering into the studio with my guitar, I would find someone who wanted to practice setting up mics and recording music, and we would just set up and record. It was that simple. One of my best friends and mentors at CFRO was Peter Thompson. He was deeply involved with the station from the beginning, and when the time came to test the transmitter for the first time,
he grabbed a tape of some songs I had recorded in my living room on a reel-to-reel with
an engineer named Peter Offerman.

As a result, mine was the very first voice to be heard on CFRO. What an honour!

Over the years I kept returning to the old pigeon-poop-encrusted studios for recording sessions and live fundraisers, and each visit was like a house party, with musicians in every nook and cranny. It was a hoot in every sense of the word, and I'll never forget the support and encouragement I received from the station from day one. They've moved to new premises down the block, but the sound remains the same. CFRO celebrates its thirtieth birthday this year (2004). Congratulations!