www.evanjonesmusic.com
Geoff Gunderson
I got Geoff's name from a kid at Jr. High School. I called him to see if he would be interested in trying to start a band. He brought over his guitar and played some Eric Clapton song for me. I was amazed at how good he was. He was only something like 13. I wondered how this little kid got to be so good so fast. I had been playing piano since I was five, and my level of musical understanding was so far inferior to Geoff's, that I was embarrassed playing for him. To this day, I wonder what he saw in me that kept him from turning around and walking out of my living room. Luckily for me he didn't...and we became best friends. We literally spent nearly every waking hour of every day hanging out both around and away from music, from the beginning of Shadowfax to the end of Wakefield. He was essentially the reason I was able to play in a band. If it wasn't for him pulling me along, allowing me to hang out day after day to learn from him, I don't know if I ever would have been a professional musician.
I had a spinet piano in my living room (it's still sitting there in my family home), that we would sit by and work out songs. He would come over with something that he had worked up and he would show me how it went. Sometimes, I would write a song and when he came over, would sit down next to that same little spinet, and we would work out the parts. This went on from the beginning of Shadowfax to the end of Wakefield.
Geoff is one of those people that was born to play guitar. He is lucky enough to make his living doing it. He teaches guitar in Sioux Falls, plays in several bands, and does solo performances. He can play nearly anything, from rock to blues to classical. Click on the link to his website below(www.GeoffGunderson.com) to learn more.
It's great to be back in SD where I get to see Jeff and Geoff more regularly. I often stop in to see Geoff on one of his solo gigs. Occassionally he will stop by for one of my solo performances, and he'll bring his guitar. He'll get up with me to do a couple of tunes, and it's just like old times.
Geoff, like Jeff, has the level of talent that puts him in a class with any guitar player that you can hear. It is because of these two that Wakefield became the musical powerhouse of the 80's.
