I wrote the first chapter of "Out a' the Pine", when I was ninety days sober. I stood up in the middle of an AA meeting and read it. That's not usually what you do at a meeting like this - but it expressed what I was feeling. " There's more", someone said. I had written it in pencil on a yellow legal tablet. " If you write it, I'll type it for you," she said. So I did. I wrote and wrote. I had been playing irish fiddle for a little while and integrated it into the piece."Now what?" It was about forty minutes long so I memorized it and went to as many theaters as I could find looking for a venue. The Celtic Arts Center had just opened in Los Angeles. They were interested in the piece and wanted me to perform it. The LA times, The LA Weekly along with the Free Press all gave me great reviews. This CD, along with a lot of sweetening is the result of those performances.