Beantown smelled like hot dogs, crackerjacks and fresh cut grass while at Fenway Park, though I was usually at work which smelled like diesel fumes and the neighboring seafood outlet.

My first assignment at Emerson College was to write a 20-page research paper on something I knew nothing about. I chose rockabilly music and swindled an interview with Link Wray. That paper sparked a deep interest in the history of American popular music. After forming the Gashouse Gang, alongside my professor, friend and mentor Rex Trailer, I embarked upon a research project to tell the history of Starday Records. I moved to Bloomington, Indiana to attend graduate school in 2009. The Boston Red Sox became my favorite baseball team and I became an ardent fan of all Boston sports teams. Favorite songs, artists or bands would be hard to choose, but Boston had great honky-tonk, punk, and rockabilly scenes and anything on Starday was a safe bet.