Conceived during the holiday season of 1942-43, Jim was blessed with two music-loving parents. Mom could play piano, and Dad loved to listen to Enrico Caruso on 78’s.

Nine or ten years later, Dad brought home a Zenith “portable” radio (with tubes!), equipped with several powerful bands to included short-wave. FM was mostly classical in those days, and AM was “The Bomb!”

One Saturday night, Jim discovered WSM and though not always clear, a whole new world exploded. There was more than Mambo! Jim’s discoveries soon included WWVA in Wheeling, and one of the New York Stations that had a regular folk music show.

The magic that is folk music soon had him hooked. Long before the “folk revival” of the late 50’s and 60’s, Jim was searching for anything that even sounded folkie.

At 16, a Montgomery Ward plywood guitar became his focus (he’s still playing it at home from time to time….). The string action was so high that he could lay his head on the finger-board and look up at the strings! Never discouraged, he learned the magnificent G, C and D7 Chords. He found the E Chord to be very cool as well, and when he played his first minor chord…he was officially tagged as a folk guitarist and folk singer for life!

Many years passed and Jim continues to collect music. He even played a little rock and roll for a very short time on one of “them there eelectric geetar’s!” His first mandolin was a wedding present and it was love at first sight (for shame…cheating on his wife already, and with a mandolin to boot???). Next it was jam sessions at a local folk-singer’s house and then a long journey with various musicians as the Wild Geese Band. As a “goose” Jim got his first taste of Celtic music.

Jim’s journey now with Celtic Spirit is a new chapter in his musical road of life, and the fresh new challenges and the wonderful people Jim meets along the way, he finds truly rewarding.