Born
in Uvalde, Texas, Jeff grew up in small towns scattered across Texas--ones like Crystal
City, Boling, New Gulf, Iago and Big Spring. The ghosts and memories of these places
appear often in his songs-distant trains in the night, unread letters lying in weathered
mailboxes, and memories of the things we love-and leave-blowing across the vast Texas
plains. Layered with lyrical imagery and textures that whisper their way effortlessly into the heart, Jeff's CDs are haunting treatises on longing and remembrance. Says PrimeCD recording artist Annie Gallup, "Jeff has a gift for writing lines that are absolutely fresh but that run so deep that I'm forever quoting them to myself to explain and validate events in my own life."
Jeff's 1999 debut CD, Secret Anniversaries, his 2000 follow-up, The Spinning of the World, and 2001's "Bad Tattoo" have received extraordinary reviews and extensive airplay on over 125 stations in the U.S. and overseas-startling achievements for these independent releases. Jeff has appeared as a songwriting finalist or showcase artist at some of the nation's best folk festivals.
It's further testament to the quality of his music that Jeff has attracted a veritable who's who of outstanding musicians into the studio to record with him, including: Iain Matthews, Eliza Gilkyson, Annie Gallup, Gene Elders, Bukka Allen, Mark Hallman, Stephen Bruton, Frank Kammerdiener, Glenn Fukunaga, Chris Searles and Paul Pearcy.
A graduate of Duke University, Jeff won the prestigious Academy of American Poets Award and went on to receive a Master of Fine Arts from the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers in North Carolina. Jeff is an active member of the U.S. Folk Alliance.
