Ever wonder what classic rock music would be like without big electric guitars? Would classic songs like Pinball Wizard and Me & Bobby McGee still have the raw power that made them rock-n-roll staples?

Curious?

So was I, so 19 years ago when I was but a wee lad being raised by a small group of elves in an enchanted forest on the North side of Niles(Smiles), Ohio I set forth with nothing but my Lute and a dream to the pubs and saloons where the ragged people go looking for the places only they would know. Ly, Ly, Ly...Ly, Ly, Ly, Ly, Ly, Ly, Ly...

What I found was that in my home town there were but four radio stations that had been blasting out the same 15 songs in a continuous loop for the previous 20 years. Those songs had beaten the eardrums of the unsuspecting mill workers, laborers, and automotive assemblers into a submissive musical march worthy of a George Orwell novel and produced many wonderful clone bands. On any given Friday or Saturday night you could walk into your favorite hole in the wall for a healthy dose of melodic medicine to the tune of Skynyrd, Steve Miller Band, or Bob Seger, all of which were played in the key of Zeppelin, of course!

Those of us that lived anywhere in the vicinity were helpless against the constant barrage of our local mullet-headed guitar God's and Bon Scott wanna-be's. Soak it up you would...whether you wanted to or not. No one was spared, not even I, the anti-mulleted, lute player from Smiles. I realized at a very early age that I would play songs and sing them as a vocation and before I found out that i could actually write a pretty good song I came to the understanding that the folks in my town had been conditioned to only respond to one thing - classic rock with a side of corn and extra cheese.

I am a product of my growing up with the radio forever blaring in my huge over-sized head-phones and this show was developed at the urging of some really great people that loyally flocked to those dark, smoke filled rooms in search of something - something familiar, some comfort being delivered in the sound of crunchy guitar riffs and charismatic front men that gave birth to my musical career in the...

...more about P. Rader

ok, about me, about me...ummm, let's see, my favorite color is Emerald Green, I'm afraid of bees, I like to open all my doors and windows when it rains really hard, and I'm convinced that I was born a decade and a half too late. I've been playing guitar since I was 5 years old and writing songs since I was 9.

For the last 19 years I've been a "professional" musician which is the ABSOLUTE COOLEST job in the world. No other job in the world, that I can think of anyway, would actually encourage me to stay up all night drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, reading books, and writing music - unlessssssss, I was the midnight shift person who proofread all the pamphlets that needed to be turned into jingles for the R.J. Reynold's Corporation. I suppose just about anybody could do what I do but some of them might not want to. Weird hours out of the loop of the sun people makes for a lot of solitude but you get used to it.

I've released 5 Independent CD's and recorded maybe 80-some songs. There's about 2 and a half albums of music that hasn't been released yet and another 2 and half albums that hasn't even made it to tape yet. I can't keep up with it. I guess I like it like that. I mean, I'd hate to have a bunch of money to record with and not enough material, ya know? That would suck!

I write in a bunch of different genres of music which, as we all know, is an A&R person's DREAM, right? They hate me. Which is ok, I'm not particularly fond of them either. :) I kid you, I'm a kidder! I can go from some angst ridden punk dittie where I'm screaming my guts out to a pretty little acoustic ballad complete with beautiful melody and weepie, whiny vocals. For me, I guess, it's always been the only therapy I could afford.

I live near Washington D.C. right now. It's another new city for me and another new place for new faces to rock-out for! :) Watch the calendar for upcoming shows and stop in and say "Hey" if you're in town.

Did I mention that I hate "About Me" sections on these websites? No? Well, I do. I guess that's something else about me that you should know, huh? Ok, that's enough already. If you're still here you obviously have an attention span that far exceeds mine...