I was eight years old when Star Wars first hit the movie theaters, and the effect of that film began a life-long love of movie music and, in particular, the music of John Williams. For most of my early years, I wanted nothing more than to become a film composer. This, of course, never materialized, but eventually I found a way to "scratch that itch" through projects like Twilight of the Gods and Star-Crossed, created with my friend, artist Erik Evensen. Eventually I began to explore the idea of creating scores to accompany early, short silent films.

That is the case with The Great Train Robbery, which was commissioned and premiered by Andrew Desmond and the Lake Oswego (OR) High School Bands. The piece is intended to be performed as a live accompaniment to the iconic film of the same name, produced and directed by Edwin S. Porter in 1903. The story follows a gang of outlaws who detain and rob a train, escaping into the woods before finally being tracked down and caught by a local posse. The Great Train Robbery is significant to the development of movies for several reasons. It is an early example of the Western as an art form, almost certainly inspired by other works at the same time as well as real-life outlaws such as Butch Cassidy. The story is action-driven and features an early example of presenting simultaneous story lines through cuts back and forth. The movie concludes with an unrelated, but iconic, shot of one of the outlaws shooting directly at the camera, a scene which has been referenced by later directors, including Martin Scorsese in Goodfellas.