"Another Scarecrow is a beautiful album: excellent lyrics, good variety in styles, moods, feels and high quality production."

- acclaimed North Carolina songwriter David Childers

A familiar sight in the Southern Appalachians where I live is patchwork quilts painted on old barns out in the country. I like to think of my “Brewgrass” music like one of those quilts. 

How so? It’s a hodgepodge of the experiences and musical influences I’ve gathered in my life. I grew up in the shadow of the Bluebird Café in Nashville, so country music is a patch from my childhood.

The first real job I landed out of college was at Sugar Hill Records in Durham, NC. I listened to and was shaped by the music of Townes Van Zandt, Sam Bush, Guy Clark, Sarah Jarosz, Nicekl Creek, James McMurtry and so many more. And got to attend Merlefest annually, meeting Doc Watson (!)  and saturating myself with the Americana and folk music of the Piedmont. So that’s a patch. 

In 2007 I moved to Asheville where I fell in love with my wife, Appalachian Trail hiker, author, and speaker Jennifer Pharr Davis. I thought I loved the outdoors… until I met Jen. She taught me otherwise and now 15 years later, after traveling the world for her speaking and writing, hiking in all 50 states, running hundred mile races and walking trails all over the US and Europe, it’s safe to say hiking, adventure, and the mountains themselves are a patch. 

The last bit of fabric is the music where I live in Asheville, NC. Learning from Jerry Sutton (Bryan’s dad) and Josh Goforth (David Holt), playing, writing and recording with friends like Charles Humphrey (Songs from the Road Band and Steep Canyon Rangers), Nick Dauphinais (Larry Stephenson Band, Mountain Faith), Tommy Maher (Fireside Collective), and Charlie Chamberlain, being in this music scene that’s as fecund as the Blue Ridge mountains has shaped me and been a patch.

So there’s my quilt. Each song a different swatch that adds up to “Brewgrass” music. Put it all together and I think the sum is more than the parts. I hope you don’t blow by my quilt on this four lane highway we call life. Instead, maybe pull over to the side of the road and take it in for a minute- the patterns, colors, shapes and sizes. I bet you can make out some of my influences. I hope my “Brewgrass” quilt is worth your looking at. And I hope to see you down the road.