The Old Kazoo Maker was born and raised in the western North Carolina foothills. He grew up in an atmosphere rich in traditional bluegrass and folk music and was exposed to a treasure chest of Carolina traditional handmade folk instruments, folk artist and musicians. "My first store bought instrument as an old beat up Kay acoustic guitar when I was about 9 years old and learned the three major folk chords. D, E and C. I got my first store bought kazoo at the county fair by throwing a wooden ring around a post that had a red metal kazoo strapped to it with a rubber band. Man I was humming in high cotton!" The Old Kazoo Maker joined the United States Navy in 1970 spending many years at sea "taking a look at the world". In 1991 he retired and began to follow his childhood passion as a folk artist of handmade traditional style folk instruments. In 2007 he moved his focus to creating unique handmade traditional Carolina style folk kazoos and established the Great Aswego Kazoo Factory on his homestead at Lake Senica, Florida. He is also an independent folk musician and songwriter. In 2010 he released his first album of original folk songs, "Across The River", on the AsWeGo Homestead Studio Independent Label.