My parents gave me a Silvertone guitar for Christmas when I was a shy ten-year-old living in Grand Junction, Colorado. It was an amazing time to be a new guitarist: the day after Christmas, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles was introduced in the United States. Peter, Paul & Mary had hits with Bob Dylan Songs. Toward the end of 1964, Simon & Garfunkel released Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. I was utterly seduced by those acts and countless others and any chance that I would lead a conventional life had evaporated before I was 12 years old. My great good fortune was the fact that, except for music, I had no apparent marketable skills so I spent several decades working as a poor but happy musician. Taradiddle taps into the spirit and energy (and the poverty and happiness) of the music that has defined my life since that Christmas morning all those years ago.
