T.Stephan

I was born in Washington D.C. in 1957 but grew up in Springfield, Virginia. I graduated from Lake Braddock High School in 1976. I went on to Virginia Tech graduating in 1980, and worked in banking and finance and raised a family. I have two grown sons (they are excellent musicians) and I now live in Charlottesville Va. I am married to music therapist. It goes without saying, there is always music in the house.

The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, when I was 7 years old started it all, like it did to millions of kids in the US. I remember collecting returnable bottles to earn enough money to buy a Fender electric guitar. Ha! My older cousins played guitar and harmonica and were always around during family gathering to hoot and holler (mainly folk tunes). One of my cousins was a musician on the Auto Train!!!

I got a guitar and progressed in the early 1970s when the likes of James Taylor , Joni Mitchell, and Jackson Browne came to my ears. I saw myself as wanting to be the guy at the party who played the sensitive songs for the girls. After a while, I heard John Hartford on his Steampowered Aeroplane record that blended hippies and bluegrass. I was hooked and got a banjo when I was about 13 and learned the Scruggs 3 fingered style. I joined an established and beloved group in high school and took them in a bluegrass direction (Tennessee Flying Goose). I continued to play after high school at the college coffee house and later, as time between working and raising a family, I played mandolin and sang in acoustic bands (The Lowe Runner Band and Telegraph Springs).

Every few years I would accumulate enough songs that I had composed to think about recording an album. I now have put out a couple of singles that will be followed by the self produced EP. It was a lot of work. I wrote the tunes, played them, arranged them etc. etc.

I hope my material will find some ears!

Cheers!
T. Stephan