About

I’m a writer, teacher, and radio host living in Birmingham, Alabama.

My first book, Doc: The Story of a Birmingham Jazz Man (University of Alabama Press, 2012), tells the story of jazz elder and educator Frank “Doc” Adams. Adams played with Sun Ra, Duke Ellington, and others, and was a mainstay and hero in Birmingham’s jazz community. You can find the book here, or anywhere books are sold. Doc Adams died in 2014 at the age of 86; you can read my tribute to him here.

My weekly radio show, The Lost Child, features a wide range of downhome roots musics: classic country, southern soul, rhythm and blues, rockabilly, gospel, jug band music, western swing, old-time string bands, and more. The show broadcasts Saturday mornings and Tuesday nights on Birmingham Mountain Radio. For more information, please visit The Lost Child’s Facebook page or find us on Instagram @lostchildradio.

My work with Doc Adams led to another book, now in progress, which will reveal the remarkable full story of Birmingham jazz. There’s a rich, important story here which hasn’t yet been told, and I’ve spent this last decade immersed in research and writing on the subject. I started this blog in part to introduce readers to the project as it continues to unfold. Stay tuned.

In September 2017, along with our friends Lillis and Lloyd, Glory and I opened up a place in Birmingham called The Jaybird, a little homegrown experiment in community and the arts. We set out to offer a year’s worth of programs — monthly music, bimonthly art shows, and other sorts of community gatherings — and we were blown away by the response. You can find out more about that project here.

A few other details, which are likely to come up in the blog: for the past fifteen years, I’ve taught high school English, along with electives in Creative Writing and Film Studies. I am married to an inspiring partner, Glory, and am stepdad to a funny, independent, creative kid named Norah. I’m an active champion of zine culture and DIY publishing, and with my own little Lady Muleskinner Press have produced a number of homemade, handmade pocket-sized booklets, most of them devoted to some obscure corner of southern music history. Sometimes I draw pictures.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy looking around.