MY LIFE SO FAR One of the most difficult tasks independent musicians have to take on is writing their own bio. To sound professional you'll write about yourself in the third person and pretend you're a super cool, know-it-all music journalist praising this amazing talent and using words that no normal person would ever think of. But I'm no journalist, I'm a musician, and all I can write is songs (and believe me, the lyric writing is the hardest part of it!). So I'll keep it simple and just tell you a little about myself. (However, if you need something that sounds more like a press release, drop me a line and I'll send you something.) I grew up in a small town in the Western part of Germany and as a kid and teen I split my leisure time between communal music school and the local Scouts group. I had piano and violin lessons, I played in the orchestra and in jazz bands, and the music making went on at the campfire on hiking trips with the scouts with a guitar or a mandolin or a ukulele in my hand. I was surrounded by lots of classical music as well as folk music (from all around the world) and jazz (naturally) and as a kid of the 80s in Germany, by some pretty weird pop music. After leaving home for Hannover first and then for Hamburg, I continued playing in different bands and formations. I played folk dance music for dance groups, I sang in choirs, I played the fiddle in an Irish Folk Rock group (Town Fools) playing everything from Pogues songs to originals, I discovered bluegrass, got totally hooked and started playing in a bluegrass/folk/Americana duet as well as at the monthly bluegrass jam in Hamburg, I started playing with a more traditional Irish folk band (Eamon's Daughter) and discovered a whole new world of playing the fiddle. In recent years I have been listening almost exclusively to US-American acoustic music: bluegrass and all its modern variations, old time, Americana, country, American singer/songwriters, even the Celtic music on my iPod mostly originates in the US. So in 2009, I finally traveled to the US for the first time in my life and attended the Mark O'Connor fiddle camp in Tennessee. And I had such a fantastic time that I decided to quit my job and come back for longer. I travelled all through the country, went to lots of amazing concerts and festivals, got stuck in Nashville which now is sort of my heartfelt home town, returned to the Mark O'Connor String Camp where I was certified as a teacher of his new Violin Method, made many wonderful friends and only returned to Germany because my visa expired and my money ran out. (Anybody can provide me with a greencard?) Anyway, now I'm back terrorizing the Hamburg music scene with my fiddling, playing my own songs as well as playing with my Irish Folk band Eamon's Daughter (featuring Martin Verg on bouzouki and Ivo von Schnakenburg on bodhran) and the newly founded bluegrass band The High Road (featuring Simon Rick on guitar, Uwe Peper on banjo and Eberhard Marold on upright bass). In addition, I've started a fiddle school to spread the good fiddle vibes I experienced on the other side of the pond. I wrote my first song as a teen and co-wrote some songs with friends all along, but the songs you can listen to on this site are all relatively new. I never considered myself to be a singer or a songwriter - let alone both at the same time - but it turned out that people liked my songs and I enjoyed singing them. In 2009 I had the opportunity to record my first five songs for my EP "Move On" which will soon be available online. I continue writing songs and soaking up every bit of music I get to listen to - and I am happy if people continue enjoying my music.