I’m grateful for so many things about life in Nosara… Surf of course #1, then followed by people & the community in general, then perhaps variety of weather, waves & types of people with season adjustments, & there’s more. But music wasn’t in top choices here until November 1st 2023. That’s when I started playing at Alt Fin Co at Outpost in Playa Guiones K section across from Surf Simply & near Beach Dog Cafe & El Campo.
Since then I’m reconnecting with many friendships, clients gathered over the years & just overall enjoying myself and the challenge of it all. My favorite jam sessions are the freestyle ones where someone just names a subject & off we go… However, on this night I was super nervous because my first time playing publicly with Garret “G Love” Dutton who has been a long time friend since about 2010 when he did his first Nosara Benefit show at that time for the Surfing Nosara Foundation to help local schools. Erik Antonson is to thank for starting all of this and to this date we’re all friends & I’m hoping we can get Nosara Acoustic Roots Festival back up & rolling.
Ideally we get G Love, Jack Johnson, Donovan Frankenreiter, Ben Harper type folks together for an ideal kind of festival. Nosara is a model town for the world to see and in protecting it and its people other places may benefit, too.
My music history is 2 years of piano 10 to 12, then picking up a guitar at 22 years old & mainly being self taught with a bit of time in contemporary church bands before moving to Nosara full time in 2009. My most interesting setup up till 2009 was playing upright bass in a bluegrass band called Tin Penny in St. Augustine, Florida. This style of music really caught my attention & formulated my style for future years.
When when Nosara happened, I pretty much dropped music except for Kaiya’s Del Mar Academy talent show in 2011 or so & a couple times at Il Basílico, Harbor Reef (RIP), and here or there with a friend like Josh, Tacu, or Darrin E on percussion.
So mainly it was me fingerpicking in the jungle in between letting my kids beat me up in karate, boxing, Muay Thai, or BJJ & UFC TUF episodes & Gracie Jiu Jitsu lessons as part of their homeschool.
But the kids are old now & I’m pumped to be back into music. Was terrifying getting out in front of people because when you stink in music super visible. At same time, I’m not trying to make any money or be famous. I just want to make interesting music that flows and generally has pretty strong bass lines.