Bio
Born in Long Beach, California back in the late 50’s, I grew up in Sacramento, California from the 7th grade on. Prior to that, I lived in Eureka, California, overlooking a valley of old growth redwoods as my backyard…which I loved as a kid. I am the oldest of five kids; and oldest of the eight blended kids when my father re-married.
Attended Arden Junior High, Rio Americano High School and Jesuit High School (both high schools at the same time for my Sophomore, Junior & Senior years). Played high school basketball and took advanced G.E. classes at Rio Americano, but attended Jesuit for math only. Went on to graduate from both Sacramento State University and Cal State Berkeley in 1981.
Career wise, I’ve had the opportunity to fly jets in the Air Force as a pilot; manage I.T. departments for Sprint and First Nationwide Bank; run trains for Southern Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad as a railroad engineer; and currently work for Vision Service Plan (VSP) in their technical group.
Because of our childhood training on building and remodeling homes, I have done many granite, marble, travertine, and tile work for friends and relatives over the years…as well as the full gamut of home remodeling on both my parent’s homes, and my own homes. One of the several lessons taught to us kids growing up was “if he can do it, why can’t I.” That’s probably why my neighbors have call me the Renaissance Man on several occasions for having the ability to do most anything I put my mind to.
My hobbies include fly fishing, backpacking, guitar music compositions, home remodeling, building restomod cars, radio control airplanes (primarily gliders), and home landscaping.
In my younger years of playing music, my first instrument was cello in the fourth grade; followed by piano in fifth and six grade; and then on to alto sax for 6 years in junior high and high school. I bought my first acoustic guitar with my first income tax return…a Yamaha FG-200.
Since I’m self-taught on guitar, I used to listen to a lot of songs during my high school years, trying to figure out certain song progressions. Learned a lot of the popular songs from groups such as Led Zeppelin; Loggins and Messina; Doobie Brothers; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Emerson, Lake and Palmer….and from anyone who wanted to get together and “jam.”
I do not consider myself a good guitar player by any stretch of the imagination…but I have been blessed with some musical talent, and can pick-up most tunes by ear. I always sat 1st chair with cello and sax, but hardly ever brought my instruments home to practice. My relatives tell me my musical talent comes from my grandfather, Erastus Freeman, from my dad’s side of the family. They say he could pick-up just about any instrument and play it…but I don’t ever remember him playing because he passed away when I was around two years of age.
Because I’ve taught myself how to play guitar, I have some unusual playing habits. I don’t finger some of the chords in the “traditional manner,” like D for example. And because I only use two fingers to pick most of my songs with (thumb and index finger), I’ve been told that my picking patterns are sometimes “un-orthodox.”
I didn’t really start progressing in my playing ability until years later when technology came out with a device called a looping machine. It’s been one of the best investments I’ve ever made. It allows you to play back whatever you’ve composed on the fly. My wife Tracy and my kids (Natalie, Brittany and Blake) encouraged me to start recording all of my songs that I had composed over the years for others to enjoy. One thing lead to another, and after a lot of reading and researching (and input from my son Blake), I put together a decent recording system to do all of my composing and editing myself at home.
When composing songs, I find that augmented/minor chords and fingerings are much more interesting to listen to than the traditional major chords and strumming. So I tend to go off in that direction in 90% of my songs. My earlier songs are shorter in duration, but are more upbeat in general than my newer stuff. The reason why my newer music is slower, more methodical is because of an opportunity I had to compose three songs for a movie producer by the name of Rory Walsh, who started a film company by the name of filmFuture Inc. in the L.A. area.
Rory heard my first cd and liked it, so he contacted me asking if I had anything “dark & dreary” for an upcoming movie called Lesser Miracles. I told him that I didn’t have anything currently recorded, but I could compose something for his movie. So it took me two months to compose, record, edit, and ship off three new songs….which are on my second album labeled “My Gift to You.” The song titles are: Lonely Thoughts; If Only I Could Have; and What Do You Know About Me? All I knew about the movie was a woman killed another woman to protect her family because of ‘voices’ she heard. These three songs influenced my music composition into a new direction. My newer music tends to be slower flowing, more relaxing in style. Overall, I would classify my music into the categories of: Contemporary, Instrumental, New Age, Spa, or Easy listening.
On a final note, my family and friends are very important to me. So for example, when each grandchild approaches two years of age, and I’ve gotten to know their little quirks and individual personalities and demeanors, I compose their own special song that best suits or depicts their personality. I have seven grandkids so far, and have completed four songs to date…two on the first album (“A Little Funk with Harrison” & “Ali-Pop”), and two on the second album (“Ellis with An Attitude” & “Attix’s Safari”).
I hope you find my music interesting and pleasing, and welcome any feedback that you may have. Again, thank you for your time in checking out my website and music.
Sincerely,
~~Kyle B. Freeman~~
