I made my very first recording back around 1968.  I remember being astounded at being able to hear my voice played back instantly.  The recorder was a small portable reel to reel tape recorder that belonged to one of my Uncles.  The second time I recorded was with my school friend Jimbo Alexander who lived down the street from me.  He brought over his portable reel to reel and we recorded my first song "Babe I Need You So".  My sister Robin helped me write the lyrics.  It was 1970 and I was in the 5th grade and had started my first band with Jimbo on bass guitar & our friend Jay Brinkley on drums.  I was the guitarist & lead vocalist.  The guitar was a Western Auto Del Ray acoustic guitar.  We played that song over and over again and got to perform it for our entire 5th grade class at an end of the year party along with the song "Joy to the world" by Three Dog Night (which was popular at the time).  I remember the feeling of being so scared but so excited to be in front of my peers performing those songs!  Fun memories.  Christmas 1972 was extra special because I got my first cassette tape recorder.  I spent hours upon hours recording sound effects, songs, interviews and pretending to be a radio DJ (my dream at the time).  I still have those tapes and get a kick out of hearing my little adolescent voice and the shenanigans I got into.  And now I'm grateful that I'm able to continue to record my music and sounds and share them with the entire world - thanks to the "world wide web" and particularly AudioJungle.

​I had a blast yesterday traveling to Burgaw, NC to record sounds at the Old Pender County Jail.  The Jail is listed in the National Register of Historic Places: Burgaw Historic District.  It was built in 1924 and operated as the jail house until 1979.  Thanks to a friend I was able to get in touch with the town manager James Gantt.  James along with Louis Hesse (who is the town building inspector with knowledge of how to use the various levers to open the jail doors) took me over and I was able to record some fabulous sound effects.  The concrete floors and all the steel helped to make it a very reverbant space and the end product makes the doors closing sound bigger than life.  Louis shared with me that years ago when the jail was in operation, some of the town teenage boys would sneak in and throw fire crackers in to scare the prisoners.  I can only imagine how surprising and scary that must have been!  Some of these sounds, including the sample below will be available for purchase on AudioJungle.  To learn a little more about the Jail, check out this video from local TV WECT.