I first became interested in music when I was, hmm 🤔 born? As a toddler my parents indulged my love for animals by gifting me stuffed animals. I managed to amass 32 of them. There was barely room in my little bed for me. For years I’d arrange my fuzzy, fluffy audience into a captive crowd and sing to them. So, I guess we can count that as my first performance. 

Songs began to “come through me” when I was 9 years old. My first was “I’ve Always Been a Ramblin’.” It was the ‘60s: the decade of Folk Music and there was a lot of ramblin'. The song was actually quite prophetic:

“I’ve traveled ‘cross the ocean, over mountains high. My bed has been the cold hard ground and my roof has been the sky.” 

Who knew years later I’d be huddled in my sleeping bag on the cold hard Mojave Desert floor in winter as I hitchhiked to California?

Jump ahead to high school. I accelerated my curriculum and poof! I’m sixteen years old taking first semester summer classes at the University of Connecticut.

In the early ‘70s I lived off Route 44 near UConn on a commune called the “OD Corral”. It was a renovated chicken coop. When the heat kicked on, feathers would fly out of the vents and float through the room. We all shared a huge vegetable garden. My next door coop neighbor Chris aka “Consi” cooked dinner each night and numbered them like menu items: “Vegetable Business Number 102…103,”

I owned a Dodge van, the one with the slant 6 engine. When we were not in classes, a bunch of us “guys” worked construction building houses. The guys would load into my van and we’d drive to the home sites to work. My job was painting and staining baseboards and trim that laid across saw horses. I was so good at it; they dubbed me “Jayne the Stain”!

I didn’t realize the radiator in the Dodge was bone dry until one day the block seized up. I paid to have it bored out, then my friend and I studied the Dodge repair manual, rented a torque wrench and rebuilt the whole engine. When we were finally done, we turned the key and it started! But what in the world were all those parts lying on the ground as I pulled away!? When you’re 18 years old; who cares!? The Dodge was back in business. And so was Jayne the Stain!

I needed money for rent. The guys suggested I audition to sing at the Student Union Ballroom Coffee House. I got the gig and $25. They had a Steinway grand piano on stage and I performed for about 25 people. They enjoyed my little make shift piano/guitar performance. What I lacked in vocal prowess I made up for with sincerity and a genuine connection with the audience. It was love. Next gig there were about 85 people and one standing ovation. Next gig about 125 people and 2 standing ovations!

It was the era of “finding yourself” so, I took a leave of absence from UConn and hitchhiked across the United States, up the California coast to Vancouver then hitched eastward on the Trans Canadian Highway to Niagara Falls then back to Connecticut. (That’s a Netflix movie right there!)

When I returned to UConn ready to perform again, I added drummer Howie Petrella and bassist / goat farmer John Fleagle and later worked with another bass player, John Freeman who enjoyed collecting road kill and turning them into hats! Storrs, CT was quite country back then and UConn was an agricultural school.

A few months later Leo Kottke was to open for John McLaughlin and the Mahavishni Orchestra at Jorgensen Auditorium on campus. Leo cancelled last minute and I was invited to be the opening act. Talk about deer in the headlights?! Thousands of people attended. I looked out to a completely dark room except for the circles of light from the doors at the back of the Auditorium. I received a standing ovation and was this close to yelling, “Stop! You’re making a big mistake! I don’t know what I’m doing!” I was numb and overwhelmed.

Soon after I was once again scheduled to perform at the Student Union Ballroom which had a capacity of 200 people. 600+ people crammed into the Ballroom and overflowed out the doors into the hallways. The guys and I performed my original music and ended with my 20 minute Suite Leave of Absence about my hitchhiking adventure. (Somehow I bamboozled 2 of my professors to give me Independent Study credits for writing the Suite and guess what!? I got 6 credits of “A”s! It’s all about the “sell”, Kids! (wink).

The crowd erupted, clapping and cheering and since the stage was positioned where I had to walk through the crowd to exit, each time I tried I was lifted by fans and bodily placed back on the stage 3 times for more encores.

A fellow from CBS records in New York attended who heard about me from Mom’s friend of a friend and, to make a long story short, I signed to his management company and with 1 semester left to complete my degree; I withdrew from UCoinn and began touring and opening for major acts at Colleges, Universities, and Festivals all long the east coast from Boca Raton, Florida to Halifax, Nove Scotia. Some of you may have seen me perform. I did return to complete my degree 8 years later just in time before my credits expired.

So to sum it up to that point in time; I write songs, play piano and guitar, entertain and throw down a mean stain on any baseboard or trim! Oh! And I can build a slant 6 engine!

Photos by Dave Wason 1973