I was born the year that Sputnik was launched, for those of you who remember the Cold War, brought up in Van Nuys, California (“The Valley”) in a culture of singular vacuity and rootlessness. I survived the “New Math,” was degreed in it, and I now count beans for the wonderful folks at the UT Center for Literacy Studies, whose cubicles colonize the former Miller’s department store in downtown Knoxville. I am also part-time concert manager at the Laurel Theater presenting the best in regional traditional music.

I love music that peels paint off walls and whose eccentricities haven’t been filed down by production technology and market research. I can now admit that when I agreed to host “A Celtic Sunset” I knew next to nothing about “Celtic” music although I play concertina and have for several years been a student of Noel Hill, a great teacher and phenomenal concertina master from County Clare in Western Ireland (who is however in no way to be held responsible for my shortcomings as a musician). I have done my best to seek out the strongest historic and contemporary recordings of Irish, Scottish and related traditions which reflect the values of community music with minimal processing through the “Celtic music” industry. I hope I have a few listeners left.

My thanks to Tony Lawson and Don Burgraff for giving me the privilege of broadcasting from the Mighty Camper, and more importantly for raising the quality of life in East Tennessee, providing a welcome alternative to both commercial and high-rent “public” radio. Thanks also to my friend folklorist Brent Cantrell, executive director of the Laurel Theater and host of WDVX’s “Wild Hog in the Woods,” for guidance, moral support and the best cornbread ever baked in a pan.