So, let's start back in 1965 or so..

I don't quite remember the complete progression anymore, but I received, for my high school graduation, a $45 Kent 12 string acoustic guitar. That was all my parents could afford in 1965, and i felt bad to asking for it, but hell, it was high school graduation. And the guy in that picture to the right, Billy Sabo (I'm on the left, Billy on the right), taught me some chords, and how to use them, and eventually we formed, with 2 other guys, a famously wonderful folk quartet called The Highland Four, after the street name of one of our members, Dave McCann. Dave's brother was Pete McCann, who had an honest to God million selling hit single in "Do You Want To Make Love, or Just Fool Around" in 1977. He also wrote "Right Time of the Night" for Jennifer Warnes.

Anyway, our group did a pretty good live version of Dirty Old Town, which came from the first Chad & Jeremy album, per my suggestion. As I remember, we had some sort of primitive fog machine going on during the song with dry ice in a tub, and it was the 60's, so what the heck.

We entered, but didn't win, a local radio contest in 1965. I think we were on the night before the great blackout in the Northeast in November of that year. I still have the tape of the show, and when asked who my favorite artists were, you know Chad & Jeremy were included (along with The Silkie (look that one up), and Jay & the Americans). The guy who did win, I later found out, was the son of Art Carney. I met him later, in college, at a show we both performed at at Southern CT State College.

Anyway, I gave Bill my copies of Distant Shores and Cabbages & Kings to listen to. I'm still waiting to get them back.

I haven't seen Bill in nearly 35 years. I played guitar and sang at his wedding as part of the ceremony I think in 1972, and we still do Christmas cards.

And that's just where it started:).