Preston Girard’s first song was written when he was 9 years old. It was called “Religious Man in the Drugstore” and remains one of his family’s most humorous memories. His second song, “Show Me a Place”, was transposed into sheet music by his fourth-grade music teacher, to Preston’s surprise and embarrassment, for the whole class to sing in chorus.

When the family piano was sold a few years later, Preston put songwriting on the backburner to focus on learning how to fit in with other adolescents. Once in college, he played drums in a pop rock cover band called “Kiss N Tell”, which specialized in poorly executed versions of “Talk Dirty to Me” by Poison and “Wait” by White Lion. His subsequent formative world travels led him to New Haven, Connecticut, where he played rhythm guitar and sang lead for an unnamed band that never got any gigs.

Finally, at the age of 27, he started setting the poetry of his father, novelist James Preston Girard, to guitar. Two years later, in 1999, he recorded his first demo, which included the first version of “Leigha”, as well as “This Old Town” and a primitive version of “Pieces”. In 2001, he partnered with producer Jon Williams and recorded 11 tracks at Strobe Recording in Chicago. The resulting album, called Simple Life, was released in 2002. His new 11-track album, Along Chicago, was released in September 2008 and available for purchase as a CD or MP3 download at CD Baby.

Preston’s first album, Simple Life, is also currently available at CD Baby for purchase as a CD or MP3 download. Individual tunes can also be purchased at iTunes for a buck each.