I was sporting my best gray hoodie and red puffy vest one winter afternoon in Texas, just like Elliot from E.T., while my dad and I were driving around in his late sixties VW bug blasting "In the Air Tonight."

The first memory I have of playing music is my Grandpa Veith teaching me "Greensleeves" on the piano.  He was a musician himself - Bluegrass - and I remember being so amazed that he could create theses songs like I had heard out there.

Isn't that a unique revelation as a child, when you realize music is actually written and performed by real people?

Probably not.  

But it was to me.

I quickly commandeered my Grandpa Veith's Casio keyboard and would listen to the demo over and over again and pretend I was playing it.

I can still hear that demo now.  

I sang in choir all through school.  It started in second grade - grade 2, for the Canadians - with a teacher named Mrs. Lehr.  God Bless Mrs. Lehr.  She planted the seed.  Saw that I had a gift, and nudged me forward.  

A year later, a non-assuming bearded man (think Mr. Rogers, if he owned a hardware store) came to my school wanting to audition singers.  Mrs. Lehr again came through with the nudge and I auditioned and made it!  I became one of the singing voices of an enormously popular children's television show.

Barney and Friends.

For real.

Next was the Texas Boy's Choir.  And then "Rockin' Robin" by Bobby Day.  And then "And So It Goes" by Billy Joel.  

I still remember the first three albums I bought with my chore money.  My own money.  

	Music From the Big Chair - Tears for Fears
	Asia - Asia
	Antenna - ZZ Top

I wanted to be involved in any singing that the school offered.

Show choir.  Bennie Southstreet.  And I started writing my own songs.  Anything I could get my hands on.  

I would listen to Vitalogy on my Discman and play Doom on the family computer for hours, killing demons because my parents just didn't understand me.  

In college, I found my love for film.  It was as a film major that I realized how much art inspires other art.  Music would make me think of a film or a film would inspire me to think of a song.

"Needle in the Hay" by Elliot Smith.  

Next stop, LA.

I went there to dig into the film industry, writing songs along the way. 

Hustle.  Struggle.  But what a time.  

One of my best friends let me live with him and his roommate in their living room, rent free, for over a year.  I will be forever grateful.  We would bounce ideas off one another, get creative, and watch bad movies like R.O.T.O.R.

We eventually formed a band.  It was tumultous, fun, and inspiring.  And we had connections and band members with famous parents.  Opportunities abound.  

And it all fell apart.  Which was equally inspiring.

It's funny how sitting lonely in a hot, cramped apartment with only a guitar will make you write music.  

But I didn't bail out.  I broke through.

I looked to the Lord for guidance.

I fell in love and moved back to my Texas roots.  We soon married and my life has been forever enriched.

Texas reintroduced me to an old, old friend.  A musician with a soul from a time when music was communal and binding and hippie.  And he made an introduction for me that would change me musically forever.  

I met Ryan.  We made my first album together.  It's called Whiplash Ballroom and you can buy it with money.

I got featured in SPIN magazine.  

Then I met Keith.  Together, the three of us made my second album, V.  Ryan and Keith are producers.  Really good ones.  But more importantly, they are friends.  

We worked like I've never worked before.  

Trust.  Smooth understanding.  Vast and understated.  Faith.

Humor is a real glue for us, for real.  

I've never had brothers, but I can imagine they would be like this.  

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Taylor Vieger currently lives in Dallas, Texas, with his beautiful wife, Allison, their cat, LeeLou Dallas Multipass, and their turtle, Richard. 

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