Growing up in the Bay Area, he was influenced by local bands like Tower of Power, The Sons of Champlin and solo artists like Boz Scaggs. What differentiated his musical perspective and style was his growing interest in singer-songwriters like Jackson Browne and Don Henley & Glenn Frey of the Eagles.

When J.D. began playing clubs in and around the south bay, it was like watching someone cook gumbo every night. Sets mixed a blend of his originals, Van Morrison, Little Feat, Jimmy Buffett and the likes of the Flying Burrito Brothers. "You never knew what to expect next, and that was part of the fun of it all," explains J.D.

"Beach Music" is a collection of songs penned in those clubs in California in the seventies through the mid-nineties that remain as contemporary today as they were some fifteen or twenty years ago. Married with four children, currently J.D. resides in Cincinnati, Ohio. Pederson laughs, "my troubadour days may be behind me, but I can still cook up a pretty mean gumbo."

"You ended up with a pretty strange brew, mixing my love for rock'n soul music with what was happening in California in the sixties and seventies."