In 1971 I joined the student activities union in college. The 1st concert I worked was John Denver w/ Helen Reddy as an opening act. When John was on stage singing Country Roads, Helen and I were backstage singing together. Many years later, in 1989 John was a guest of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at the Will The Circle Be Unbroken concert at Red Rocks. This time when John sang Country Roads, I was backstage harmonizing with Levon Helm of The Band. I felt like I graduated.

In 1976 I was Playing in a band in Denton, TX with Jerry Baker, who was playing guitar and pedal steel. When Jerry quit the band, our drummer saw a guy walking down the street carrying a guitar. He hollared at him and asked if he wanted to audition. It was Eric Baker. He got the job and we became lifelong friends.

In 1979 I moved to Colorado and Eric went to Oregon. I reunited w/ Randy Pope, with whom I had worked back in 1974. We were both roadies for bands in Ft. Worth. Randy sang and played harmonica. Our duo was playing more than the bands we were working for, so we quit the roadie gig. A year later Eric moved to Denver and Randy went back to Ft. Worth.