A little background…

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It started in Paramus NJ with The Beatles on TV, a used set of Rogers drums and hours of playing along to records after school. Then came Rock & Roll block dances in the late 60's (North Jersey), working cover and original acoustic bands in the 70's (W.Va and SoCal), more working and touring rock bands in the 80's (SoCal), then becoming a sound designer & soundtrack composer for video games. Evolving from live bands to sequenced duo and solo gigs and then re-discovering acoustic coffeehouses in the 90's (SoCal and Maine). I’ve toured halfway around the world, from Micronesia to the USVI and to 45 of the 50 states.


I moved to Austin TX in the spring of 1999, the "live music capitol of the world" and I've been gigging and recording here ever since. I have spent half my professional life leading or co-leading fine working bands and the other half chasing the brass ring with original musical projects, either as a sideman or stepping out front to lead the show.


I've been fortunate to have shared the stage with a lot of really talented musicians and songwriters throughout the years. I got my first song publishing contract with MCA records in 1979 with a band called "The Strangers" from San Diego CA. It was a singles deal that had a shorter shelf life than we'd hoped. I was in several other bands between 1978 and 1992 that came close to the brass ring (R.J. Keen Band, The East West Band, Radio Romance, Indoor Fireworks, Streetheart) but Lady Luck had other plans.


I appeared on several records through the years, mostly as a sideman and producer with other bands and songwriters. I finally was able to release a compendium of 15 years of solo work in 1998 on a critically-acclaimed CD titled "Cheshire Moon" on Outer Green records. I released a few EP's during the following years and then channeled my soundtrack composition experience in 2006 with an ambient chillout instrumental album titled "Lake Affect" that achieved critical acclaim worldwide and got airplay on ambient and New Age stations worldwide.


In October 2015 I released my third album, “The Austin Sessions”. This is entirely a solo project; all original songs recorded in my musical workshop - Cheshire Moon Studio. On this album I perform all the vocals and all the instruments (including electric and acoustic guitars, bass, piano, organ, synthesizers, mandolin, drums and percussion). I recorded and produced these dozen tunes along with the CD package as well.


My foray into sound design and soundtrack composing for video games in the early 90’s was a great segue into a more stable and creative career, with fifteen Sega, Nintendo and Sony video game titles to my credit. I made a personal choice in 1995 to leave L.A. and move to central Maine to turn a new page however work was scarce, life took a turn and soon I found myself heading south and setting up shop in Austin TX.


After two more years in video game development I went back to performing and running Cheshire Moon studio, producing and mastering music for many central TX performing songwriters. From 2006 to 2013, I also produced the critically-acclaimed “Austin Connection” podcast series that featured touring acoustic performer interviews with exclusive live performances.


Early 2020 found me performing occasionally with songwriters in the Austin area, including acoustic gospel brunches with the Jon Emery band at Austin’s iconic Threadgill’s Old #1 until the pandemic hit. In past years here I co-fronted a Badfinger tribute band, played drums and sang in a Beach Boys tribute band and sang and played piano for the Bee Gees Songbook. It’s 2023 and I’m on standby as we navigate thru this post-pandemic time. How and when we come back remains to be seen…stay tuned.

Cheshire Moon Studio

JGT Solo albums

Some of my Austin clients & their projects