About the Founder

At the age of 12, I chose guitar after I mentioned it to my mom and she told me that my dad had one, much to my surprise. He later pulled it out of an old guitar case that was buried in the back of their master bedroom closet. And then he played it for me. I don't remember exactly what he played, but to me, it was glorious.

That settled it for me. I wanted to learn the guitar and my mom said if I was really interested in learning, I needed to start on his. I know now what it was that I learned on — it was a classical guitar with steel strings. If you know anything about guitar, it means that it was really hard to hold down chords, much less make it sound like real music.

After a few weeks of disciplined practice with an old Mel Bay book that my dad had, I showed my mom my newfound guitar “skill.” It was rough and clunky, but she must have determined that I was into it. Because for my next Christmas present, my dad and her gifted me 3 lessons at the local music store in Tyler, TX — Mundt Music.

After three lessons with my childhood hero, Tom, aka my guitar instructor, who later showed me the progress of one of his students on the album cover that he was proud to show me was his student's work of art. Beaming with pride as Tom put the album back on the table next to him, we continued our lesson.

Well, in my mind, HE had hung the moon. Because he was sitting with me teaching me everything he knew. I was further entrenched in this thing called guitar.

Another friend of mine who played the guitar pretty well showed us a song on his electric and I was more and more drawn into the chords and the way he seemed to come up with guitar riffs on his own. I was inspired by how nuanced and intricate not only his guitar playing was, but as I learned, how uniquely different everyone's way was to learn and develop music that connects with them. I thought, one day, I must be in a band.

After I finished my three months of lessons, my mom, who couldn't afford to send me to lessons ongoing for eternity, told me that if I wanted to keep playing I would need to start teaching lessons and that way I could afford to keep taking lessons.

I agreed and at around 13 years old I started my childhood ascent to being a guitar player who played in bands, went on mission trips to sing and play for the glory of God with my church, and worked to share and cultivate my love for Jesus, my family, and my community through playing the guitar and inspiring others who wanted to play.

Along the way I recorded everything I ever learned in a little black book and took copious notes. It was my one cherished possession.

I taught and learned how to not just teach but also manage a list of interested and aspiring students, one at a time. I dreamed of being like my teacher, Tom, and making $25 for every 30 minutes and doing it on a massive scale. At the time, I thought that having this reality would mean that I would have hit the jackpot and could only play and teach guitar for the rest of my life.

Years later, after a very thorough resume of playing and singing in choirs, bands, performing, and mixing it up with some of the finest musicians in East Texas, including befriending and learning from and playing with a national banjo player, I set out to figure out how to start teaching the guitar in a group setting.

Finally, when I came home with my undergrad and decided to pursue an MBA, a graduate degree, at my local university, I was offered an opportunity to teach guitar classes at my church with my friend, Todd Hinkie's, guitar curriculum.

He too wanted to build his guitar curriculum into “a thing” in which he took the guitar to the ends of the earth and trained what he called “musicianaries.” He was an incredible man with a rich history of worship and musical prowess. I was inspired by his mission and purpose to share God's love through music.

Over time, and after teaching his curriculum for several years and noticing some differences in how he taught and how I thought it could best serve more people, I took his foundation and basically decided to go rogue. I took the idea and built on it, putting my background in media, graphic design, and music production to work and built not just one curriculum, but three.

After years of teaching, I felt that I wanted to do it a little differently. I called to communicate my interest in building my own curriculum. He appreciated the willingness to call and ask — and he wholeheartedly gave his blessing.

For the next two years I tweaked and molded everything I had learned, using the classes I taught to continue developing what I felt was the best next thing to learn in a group setting.

At the same time, my brothers were in East Texas and had also been playing their instruments in worship for their local university. I had always wanted to be in a band, and I continued to play with various bands in my free time and would occasionally go play with them at different worship events.

After a few years of getting paid to play guitar in a variety of settings — what I thought was a dream — I went into the studio with a friend of mine and the band I was playing in at the time, The Andrew Francis Band.

Andrew Francis and I dreamed regularly about his band and what he wanted to do with it. His wife was an incredible singer. One thing led to another and the band eventually dissolved, but thanks to the incredible experience I had playing guitar on a couple of songs in the studio for his album, I started to dream about my brothers and I putting out our own album.

My brother, Mark, developed into an extraordinary songwriter and my other brother, Blake, brought the fun and was a pretty darn good drummer too. I, with my guitar skills, had decided not to force myself into the limelight and demand that I be the lead singer, like I had always wanted. Instead, the perfect fit seemed for me to be the backup singer and electric guitarist, and all-around production manager and, eventually, the band manager.

My mom agreed to loan us the money after I provided a drawn out and very detailed plan for how long we would be in the studio, how much it would cost, how we would pay her back with the guaranteed events we already had booked, and then why I felt like my brothers and I should pursue this endeavor.

She agreed.

We had many years of sharing our music and our story with different youth groups, performing original songs at a variety of events — including a Texas A&M island party where we shared the stage with artists like Dave Barnes and Bethany Dillon, the future wife of Shane Bernard.

To add to that, we recorded our second album in Shane and Shane's studio in the Dallas area and met them in studio. After hearing one of our songs — “Sweet One,” a song Mark wrote for his wife before their wedding day — Shane Bernard complimented us on the song.

Shane Everett ended up singing backup on our song “Heaven on the Horizon.” Both of these songs are on the album Cadence.

If you're interested in hearing our music, you can hear them on Spotify or on the player below.

At one point, we made the top 4 in an artist of the year contest for an independent label called Tate Publishing Company.

We all got jobs and Mark got married and the dream died because we had to take on the responsibility of being husbands and then dads — and what a joy those things have been.

But, for me at least, the dream(s) never died. The dreams of making more music, of teaching others how and why to make music. And now, by popular demand, I've decided to put this little website back up in hopes that maybe this dream can outlast the longest about-us story you have ever read.

And if you've gotten to the end of this article, I really appreciate you going on this journey with me. I hope I've inspired you to take up your cross and your guitar, and follow Jesus and worship Him to the ends of the earth.

Sincerely,
Scott