Cej

Born in Chicago and raised in Southern California, Cej took up the classical violin at age 6. At age 11 he abandoned the violin for the guitar, teaching himself to play by listening to and learning Woody Guthrie's songs, as recorded by Rambling Jack Elliott, Cisco Houston and Woody himself (the famous sessions with Woody, Cisco Houston, Leadbelly and Sonny Terry). Cej wrote his first song, Let 'em Be The Last, on the evening of Bobbie Kennedy's assassination in 1968. Decades later it was included on his first CD, Sleepwalker In Paradise.

Seduced by the Paul Butterfield Blues band, and the music flowing out of the South Side of Chicago, Cej picked up the electric guitar in his teens. After a short run at college as a music major, he dropped out and joined a rock 'n' roll band. Twelve years, three bands and three eponymous albums later (Sweet Pain, United Artists Records, 1970; Rock Rose, CBS/Sony, 1979; and Small talk, MCA, 1981), he became disillusioned with the music business and dropped out again, this time to return to school.

Armed with a masters degree in social work, he launched a new career in the mental health field. Simultaneously, he and home town friend, Joel Rafael, started playing coffee houses together. This bloomed into the Joel Rafael Band...a ten year run (1994- 2004)...and 5 Cd's, including two Woody Guthrie collections.

Post Joel Rafael Band, Cej began to work as a traveling mental health consultant. Based out of California, he lived and worked, for various periods of time, throughout the US, Europe, Asia and Africa...collecting experiences and writing songs along the way.

His first CD, Sleepwalker In Paradise, was released in 2013. It landed on the Folk-DJ Top Albums list for 2014, with additional airplay on 75 AAA and Americana stations in the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and Israel. His next two CDs, Clovis Man (2017) and Adobe Road (2019)have significantly expanded his radio presence. His new CD, Friend Of The Sky, was released in the Fall of 2020 and shows promise of out running the previous releases.

Cej performs solo, capturing the energy and spirit of his recordings in his live performances.