RR: What comes first--lyrics or melody? Keith: Both. Often times a phrase will come first. Just a line, like "walking in Wailua rain"....I wanted to write a song with a sense of place....And I thought of our hikes to the waterfall and along the river (and how we always end of going when it's rainy!!!!!)

Well, somehow the phrase "walking in Wailua rain" comes up and it has a natural rhythm to it and some built in alliteration so that it is pleasing just to say...I begin to think about the meaning of rain, and when and why we walk in the rain.

We don't do it often enough. It's something that happens by accident. We stumble upon it and if we are open to it, we realize that God sends the rain to refresh, to rejuvenate, to "forgive." Ahh! That's what I want to impress upon the listener!

Now I've got a purpose for the song and an attitude, so the rest of the lyrics are going to try to conform to this "environment" of word and sound.

RR: How long does it take you to compose a song?

Keith: Some songs take years. It sits in my notebook or as a guitar riff until I understand what to do with it. Once I had two different guitar bits that after a year or more finally came together to form a single song.

Other times it takes a few hours, overnight, or a few days. This is especially true when it is my goal to actually write and finish a song. If I have a purpose, I will work at it until it is done.

RR: Why do you compose?

Keith: Well here's the thing. I started life as a spoofer....As a kid I wrote "Weird Al" type lyrics before anyone had ever heard of Weird Al.

So then in college I got serious, right? There's a possible war coming and I could get drafted, there's unrequited love issues and there's coming to terms on your own with God....So now I'm writing poetry...

One day I sent a poem to Amy (then by best friend/girl friend). She sent it back as a song. I was blown away! It came off the paper and it was something I could hold!

Most of my poems simply sit on a shelf in a book....A song is noise, a song is action, a song is a living breathing thing!

It's funny, but Amy has probably not written any songs since. Yet she created my first song! Then they began to spill out...

RR: How many songs have you composed?

Keith: I'm not sure but in my first year I wrote at least 100....At any given time, I have 2 or 3 song bits floating in my head....

RR: Do you ever get inspiration from other pieces of music?

Keith: Oh yes. Like I said, you put yourself in the environment to create, and music often begets music....Often when I've been playing with other people at a party, I'll be so pumped up and so filled with the spirit that I'll start several songs at once!

Anyway, one idea can lead to another.