I grew up in quiet, rural North Carolina among the woods and fields of that beautiful state. But now I live in one of the great cities of the world — Los Angeles — with the multi-laned (usually jammed) freeways and the energetic (often frenetic) crowds that seem to never end. The transition from birds singing to sirens screaming has required some thoughtful moments.
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Along the way, I have written and published three books of poetry. My first is Scars and Stories — Poems. Most of these poems consider the topics of Love and Death, which is all that matters, and also the M poems. These are common themes as well in the other two books, which are More Stories — A Book of Poems and The Third Book — A Book of Poems, Mostly. This third book is “mostly” poems because it includes a handful of stories at the end. I have recorded some of these poems for this website. If you would like to hear me read them, go to the “Book of Poems” page.

When I have some quiet, I still write poems which may eventually become yet a fourth installment of my thoughts.

Since poems are much less popular as an art form than they once were, I sought out help to turn them into lyrics. Because no one I know admits to regularly reading poems, but everyone seems to listen to music, this appears to be the best way to get my words in front of the most people.

Angela Michael is a professional singer, musician, and voice coach. She has provided melodies for seven of my poems so far. We have recorded six of them with the seventh one coming soon. These songs are also available for you to listen to here. Check out the “Songs” page.

I am really proud of the results of what Angela has done in making my words so readily accessible. Our songs are available wherever you normally go to listen to music.

True Gospel Bookstore is the name I came up with to describe us. Of course, there is no bookstore and so far we have not released a gospel song. Confused yet?

I have carried TGB along with me since I was in college in NC. There you can find a church on nearly every street corner and, when I lived there at least, it was not unusual for the congregation of any one of these churches to have tiffs over process or interpretation of scripture and, as a result, many congregations would splinter and those who left would find an empty structure to house their own place to worship. Often these churches were set up in defunct diners, outdated warehouses — any empty space that could accommodate them.

I had the idea to create a bookstore in an empty gas station near the college I was attending. I hoped to lease the space from the oil company owner. I found a book wholesaler willing to work with me but eventually gave it up because the oil company insisted on a sale rather than a lease and I didn’t have the cash to move forward. So I just went to college instead and worked the rest of the time at various jobs.

Of course, I offered the name, True Gospel Bookstore, because it would have been a bookstore in a service station building in the spirit of the local churches who just needed a roof and walls regardless of what the building had been intended for.

I’ve always liked the name and so finally got to use it!

If that is confusing, then please just listen to our music and call us TGB.

​I hope you enjoy what we do. Feel free to reach out to us if you do.