Not many people get to do exactly what they wanted to be when they were 14 years old, a time when your goals tend to be a little more exotic than when you're 17 and facing down college advisers who don't really want to hear about you becoming a rock critic. But in those years before I had a car or enough income to power one, most of my afternoons and evenings were spent with vinyl records and issues of Rolling Stone strewn all over my bed. I would pore over liner notes and credits, making mental notes about which producers ruled with iron hands and which ones satisfied the styles of their artists, the names of studio musicians that kept popping up on Steely Dan albums, the startling difference between U2 B.B.E. (Before Brian Eno) and U2 A.B.E. I studied the writing of great rock critics such as David Fricke, Robert Christgau, Lester Bangs and the pre-MTV Kurt Loder. My parents thought I was wasting my time and money, and if I'd had the potential to be anything other than a writer obsessed with rock music, they would have been right.

I wrote my first record reviews in high school, having soaked up as much as possible from the greats of the period, and back then my goal was always to
discover new music -- artists who weren't on the Tulsa album rock station 10 times a day. In those days, the oil industry brought people from all over the country, so there were kids who had been transplanted from Los Angeles, the northeast and Europe whose imported tastes helped shape mine. My school newspaper editors would complain that I wasn't reviewing albums by anyone they knew. My feeling at the time was that reviewing an album by a known mainstream band didn't exactly qualify as news. I haven't changed that much: a solid foundation in the history of music is essential, but there's no reason to spend all your time studying relics. Few things compare with the discovery of great new talents, or the opportunity to showcase an emerging musician in a way that best illustrates his or her strengths as a performer.

So "Static" brings together my love of both substantive rock journalism and amazing music. The total focus is on the performance and the musicians, achieving an understanding of both their background and their art, and presented in a way that all great musicians deserve. It is a series that greatly respects what musicians do, and constantly seeks new talent to showcase. Right now, someone is picking up a guitar or switching on a keyboard for the first time. When they're ready for "Static," we'll be ready for them.