A Blast From My Past

I recently uploaded a solo studio album I created in Austin, Texas between 1988 and 1990 to YouTube. It was originally recorded digitally then mixed down and reproduced in cassette (1990 was just before CDs were a thing). Many years later, I transferred the album's songs to digital MP3s and remixed them.

I recorded the album between the ages of 18 and 20 years old, which was six years before I became a Christian. I consider this audio/musical testimony of who and where I was at that time: young, creative, emotional, ambitious, and in the middle of establishing who I would become. I had just started having (romantic) relationships which almost always leads to songwriting. There is no swearing or anything overtly lewd on this album. It ranged from heavy pop to country-esque to dance-y to very experimental.

This passion project allowed me to collaborate with some talented musicians and people. In additional, I wrote all the lyrics and sang lead vocals on all of the songs. I played a number of instruments: electric bass guitar on all but three songs ("Robin," "Jody's Dream" and "Fever Dream"), keyboards/synthesizers on all but one song ("Jody's Dream"), intro and rhythm guitar on “Fever Dream,” and I programmed electronic drums on all songs except "Juxtaposition Fantasia."

Please understand: I don't share this to promote sin; I share it to convey the change Jesus made in my life. I was an idealistic young man at the time, trying to decide how I felt about abortion and other political matters (on one song), lustful, vengeful, confused (even self-tortured), and all I wanted was to find a soulmate. A lot of people are like that.

But the Lord had mercy on me and turned me around. A year after I finished this album, I met Angel, the woman who would become my wife. Not long after that, we became good friends and six months later, I asked her to be my girlfriend. A few months after that, she proposed to me and I accepted. We married two and a half years later in 1995. She gave her life to Jesus Christ two weeks before our first son was born. Four months after that, I saw my own need for the Lord and asked Him to be my Savior in January 1996. In that moment, I was spiritually reborn and now I write Christian fiction and perform music for my God and Savior.

This album has not been for sale since the early 1990s. It is purely for entertainment purposes. I hope you enjoy it. I know it's really rough in places, more album-length demo than polished production. I imagine opinions will vary even from song to song. But it's very honest and heartfelt. That's what I wanted at the time.