When I was about three years old, my parents bought me my first record player. For quite a few years after that they bought me a new record player every Christmas because I’d wear the old one out. I had a tall stack of records and before I could even read I could flip though the stack like a deck of cards and find any song someone asked for.
Over the next ten years I fell in love with musical theater by listening to my parents’ records (The Music Man, South Pacific, Oklahoma, etc.). That love has continued over the years and to this day I love to sing the story songs from Broadway.
At thirteen, I taught myself to play guitar by listening to Peter, Paul and Mary records and working from chord books, and gave my first concert ( for a group of parents and children at the library where I worked) at seventeen.
After I came to faith in Jesus I devoted most of my energy to singing in churches and, later, in prisons. Often, I sang as part of my chalk art programs.
My musical influences include Broadway musicals of all kinds, gospel (especially CeCe Winans), folk (especially Peter, Paul and Mary), and the story songs and music of the incomparable Ken Medema.
Music Samples
This is my finals performance from The Voice of Hunt County competition, April 15, 2023. (Recorded by a friend in the audience.)
Covers Performed by James Pence
“Alabaster Box” – Performed by James Pence
