When I was around seven or eight years old, I became fascinated by the guitar. I had a toy model with plastic strings that I would strum along to the radio, believing that at least some of the time I was in tune with whatever I was listening to. This was the instrument of choice of both John Denver and Johnny Cash, two revered artists in our household, but it was my uncle Newell in Oklahoma who first allowed me to hold a real guitar and attempt to make it sing.
