David was born in 1950 in Portland, Oregon. When David was three his family moved to the Sacramento area where his parents worked at McLellan AFB. David's mother, Loraine, played the piano and his father, Tom, had a wonderful singing voice.

The family moved to the tiny town of Penryn, CA, when David was a teenager. He first became aware of fiddling through folk music records and was impressed when he attended a performance by the Old Time Fiddlers in Coloma in California's gold country.

David moved to Philomath in 1972 where he began his 35 year career as a Journeyman Carpenter. He and his wife, Debbie, have lived at the same place in rural Benton County since 1975. David was turned on to Old Time and Bluegrass music by his friend Bob Johnson, who worked at KLOO Radio in Corvallis and later managed the Sawtooth Mountain Boys. David ordered records from Rounder and Country and listened to music ranging from Kenny Baker to the Arkansas Sheiks; from Bill Monroe to The Lost City Ramblers.

David's favorite fiddlers are Kenny Baker, Mike Eisler, Ed Neff, and Vivian Williams. His favorite singers are Bill Monroe and Red Allen. Musically, David lives in the past.