Music

Folk ~ Freestyle Guitar ~ Progressive Roots Music

I’m a freestyle artist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. My musical style is what I call progressive roots music.

My musical heritage goes back four generations and maybe longer. I’ve crossed over several eras of music: Rockabilly ~ Folk ~ Jug Band ~ Blues ~ Psychedelic ~ String-band ~ Jazz Rock Fusion ~ New Age

I consider myself a pioneer of ‘freestyle’ solo guitar (spontaneous composition) and shorty will have a book out called “Freestyle Guitar”.

My current objective is to compose and arrange musical content for independent video producers. Besides playing with friends and people I meet at social gatherings wherever I travel, I still like to perform on occasion at open mic sessions or sitting in with bands in the local area. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime… thanks.

Turkey Tracks

Featuring Kalin Capra on Bass and Caleb Horne on Mandolin.

In 2011 I won 90 minutes of recording time at the Eau Claire Music School. Shawn Smetz is the owner and director who engineered the recording. Rather than shoot for perfection by doing multiple takes of the same song, I opted to use the time to record a jam session; with Kalin Capra (my son) on bass, along with a very talented mandolin player, Caleb Horne.

Before that day, we never played together as a group. So, with only one hour to warm up; we just let the tapes roll (figuratively) and made music. I threw songs at these young guys that we never rehearsed. As I expected, they pulled it off pretty damn good. It was my pleasure to play with such fine talent.

The recordings were done just before Thanksgiving. So, I decided to just call the session “Turkey Tracks.” One of the tunes we did was is an original instrumental called “Kickin’ the Dawg” — reminiscent of David Grisman’s “Dawg Music.”

The online music player does sound best with headphones or plugged into a quality sound system.

Kickin’ the Dawg (refresh page to correct media player malfunctions)

Winterbloom String Band

This was the Winterbloom String Band at a St. Patrick’s Day party in 1986. On this particular evening the group consisted of Bruce O’Brien on banjo and vocals, Tom McCausland on guitar and vocals, T (Moose) Nyhus on mandolin and vocals; along with myself, Larry Capra, on hammer dulcimer.

At that time, they were one of the first groups to introduce Celtic music to the Northern Wisconsin folk music scene. What they may or may not have lacked in virtuosity; they made up for it with enthusiasm and fun.

Drunkin’ Sailor

Progressive Roots Instrumentals

Composing, performing, and recording multi-instrumental music is like oil painting. I start off with a primer coat using rhythm guitar and bass guitar… laying the foundation for painting in all of the details with other instruments.

The real fun comes from composing musical ideas on the fly. Freestyle composing of music is comparable to surrealist methods or abstract expressionist painting.