Seven Times Down

Hey,
So the story goes something like this: I was born in the house I now live in, but my mind and heart take me elsewhere, so I write music to ease the burning need. I write all my own tunes, sing and play guitars on them and occasionally my Dad Steve joins me in the recording, producing & gigging process. I write folk, with a twinge of Gospel, ambience, blues & Americana – sprinkled with punk. That's pretty much it. My influences include, in no particular order (so take it with a grain of salt):
Bob Dylan, Glen Hansard, Nick Drake, Jack White, Joni Mitchell, Keith Green, Bruce Cockburn, Emmylou Harris, Neil Young, The Police, U2, Daniel Lanois, Martin Sexton and my father Stephen Cates, etc. Anyone who’s music moves me could find themselves as an influence. I probably sound somewhat like Glen Hansard, crossed with Joni Mitchell during Dylan's "Slow Train Coming" and like Dylan said in 'Ain't Talkin' - "I practice a religion long abandoned." At least that seems to be the way it feels at times, but that could just be the melancholy getting the better of me.
When I was growing up starting at age 14, (actually I do recall at about age 6, singing in the back yard, on the slide, at the top of my lungs, “Just call me Robby Joe…” while playing a kind of a Zepplin-ish air guitar that I heard in my head… It was pretty much just a chorus, but it psyched me up. Why I picked ‘Robby Joe’ I’ll never know.) I wrote songs instead of journaling. It was one way I learned to cope with life. I quit writing for a number of years, but when something is a passion, it eventually draws you back in, hence why you are reading this snippet of my life right now. Thanks for reading,
I appreciate it. Abe (i.e. Seven Times Down)
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention I was 50% of a folk-duo known as "the smokin' ephods" back in the 90's. That time was a big influence on my writing and life...