So, where do I start...the beginning, I guess. I'm a Minnesotan, born and raised. I grew up in Maplewood, a suburb outside St. Paul. My Dad was an employee of the St. Paul Pioneer Press for over forty years. My mom was the cook at Edgerton Elementary school, which I attended through sixth grade. I am the fifth of six kids. I had a best friend down the block, and together we learned how to fish, play ball, ride (and crash) bikes, and many other things I probably shouldn't tell you about.
My musical life started on the swing set in the back yard when I was nine years old singing my favorite Jackson 5 songs. When I was seven the Sunday school teacher heard me sing and made me sing a solo in the church program, which led to duets with my sister (while I strummed the three chords I knew on the ukulele)! Then, in junior high, I discovered singing helped me meet girls, so I began to take it more seriously. Choir was the greatest thing that ever happened to me...it gave me my friends, my love for music, and an identity. By the time I finished high school, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be a singer. I started teaching myself the guitar when I was fifteen, and started performing with it six months later.
When I went to college at St. Cloud State University in the fall of 1979, I saw other singer guitarists playing in local clubs and coffeehouses. It looked easier and more fun than washing dishes, so I learned enough songs to get hired and play the St. Cloud "circuit". I did that for five years while I earned my bachelor of science degree in K-12 Vocal Music Education, then took a job in the little town of Cold Spring as the elementary music teacher.
My girlfriend (now wife) was still in school at SCSU, and when she graduated in 1987, we both moved to Minneapolis. I got a job at the Metrodome Holiday Inn in Minneapolis playing piano and guitar five night a week which lasted two years, and after my marriage to Michelle in 1989, I teamed up with a college friend named Ted Fyder, and we became an acoustic duo together under the name "Fyder and Everhart". We worked together for ten years, playing colleges, small clubs, and just about every other kind of gig imaginable. We made three CD's together, selling over 20,000 at our performances.
When Ted left the duo in September of 1999 I worked as a solo entertainer throughout the entire US. In 2012 I met Pat Balder, a fabulous singer and guitarist, and we joined forces to form the dueling guitars act SongBlast, which provided my exclusive livlihood until the COVID virus shut down the entertainment biz as we've always known it. I'm performing solo again until the world gets back to "normal"...whatever that is.
My musical life started on the swing set in the back yard when I was nine years old singing my favorite Jackson 5 songs. When I was seven the Sunday school teacher heard me sing and made me sing a solo in the church program, which led to duets with my sister (while I strummed the three chords I knew on the ukulele)! Then, in junior high, I discovered singing helped me meet girls, so I began to take it more seriously. Choir was the greatest thing that ever happened to me...it gave me my friends, my love for music, and an identity. By the time I finished high school, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be a singer. I started teaching myself the guitar when I was fifteen, and started performing with it six months later.
When I went to college at St. Cloud State University in the fall of 1979, I saw other singer guitarists playing in local clubs and coffeehouses. It looked easier and more fun than washing dishes, so I learned enough songs to get hired and play the St. Cloud "circuit". I did that for five years while I earned my bachelor of science degree in K-12 Vocal Music Education, then took a job in the little town of Cold Spring as the elementary music teacher.
My girlfriend (now wife) was still in school at SCSU, and when she graduated in 1987, we both moved to Minneapolis. I got a job at the Metrodome Holiday Inn in Minneapolis playing piano and guitar five night a week which lasted two years, and after my marriage to Michelle in 1989, I teamed up with a college friend named Ted Fyder, and we became an acoustic duo together under the name "Fyder and Everhart". We worked together for ten years, playing colleges, small clubs, and just about every other kind of gig imaginable. We made three CD's together, selling over 20,000 at our performances.
When Ted left the duo in September of 1999 I worked as a solo entertainer throughout the entire US. In 2012 I met Pat Balder, a fabulous singer and guitarist, and we joined forces to form the dueling guitars act SongBlast, which provided my exclusive livlihood until the COVID virus shut down the entertainment biz as we've always known it. I'm performing solo again until the world gets back to "normal"...whatever that is.