Bio
Paul Teerlinck was born in southwestern Minnesota and raised on a family farm. As a child he used to sing in the shower. His favorite song to sing was "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" by Peter, Paul and Mary. He got his first guitar as a Christmas gift from his parents at age 12 and they sent him to guitar lessons with a blind man, Don Gabriel, for three years. He began writing songs almost immediately after he got his first guitar but he destroyed these after several years because he was convinced that they were so dark no one would ever want to listen to them.
Paul joined the army at age 22 and spent two and half years in Germany. After he got out he played coffee houses and parties with a repertoire that included three sets of covers and one set of originals. Musical influences included Creedance Clearwater Revival and the writing of John C. Fogarty; Simon and Garfunkel with the writing of Paul Simon; and The Beatles. After getting a college degree, getting married and then divorced, he set out from Minnesota on a bicycle to peddle to the east coast with a guitar strapped on his bicycle rack. He eventually settled in Gainesville, Florida.
In 1989 Paul moved to Nashville in part to pursue professional goals outside of music but also with the thought of selling songs in the home of country music. Life went south again and he took all his guitars and audio equipment to a local music store and traded them in for a single classical guitar and said, "If God ever wants me to play again he'll let me know." For eleven years, he didn't play. Then, after a move to Arizona to be with his mother who had contracted Alzheimer's disease, he connected with a friend at his church to do a duet of someone else's music. He picked up the guitar again and has been writing and playing his own music ever since.
Through the magic of the internet Paul was reunited with his college sweetheart, Penny. Though she was in Minnesota and he was in Arizona, visits were made, connections reestablished and love bloomed. After his mom passed away and he completed his second album, he packed up from Arizona and made the long trek home. Love is still in bloom. And, lo and behold, new musical opportunities blossomed as well. Paul met his current producers/collaborators, Annie McLoone and Tom Moncrieff, and beautiful music was made. With the completion of his latest album, Strong and Steady, Paul is feeling just that. What the future holds, we'll have to stick around and see.
