Cliff Halt.

My background is in Rock, Folk Rock and Contemporary Folk.

If you want to put a label on me, it would have to be Singer/Songwriter.

My Father was a musician with a great sense of humor, and my Mother was exceptionally creative. She was on her own without parents from the age of nine, and raised her siblings without help. She learned to "think on her feet" - as they say - and that made her creative. I get my creativity partly from them and, of course, from my own interpretation of my childhood and life experiences. 

My inspirations come from many things: my fine art background (which goes back to childhood) taught me to see the little things (light, reflection, shadow). For me, all of these transpose easily from visual to auditory. I get a lot of inspiration from my family and friends: from their manner, their voice, their eyes. Occasionally my inspiration comes from my dreams, or I will wake from a dream with lyrics in my head - not uncommon for most creative people.

My songs start out generally from small chord progressions, that I save by the hundreds on a small recorder.

I have my own studio and production company, which makes the entire production process efficient and in my creative control.

My best advice: take a chance, do something that no one else is doing and stay with it, even when the criticism hurts. You will never truly influence anyone by doing what everyone else is doing - no one remembers mundane: the dull and ordinary. Step outside of your comfort zone as much as you can during the creative process. Love, live, and try to fill the world with something new and different.

And always ... keep on dreaming!

Cliff