When he was 16, singer/songwriter Johnathan Rice opened his mouth and let out a weathered, rustic sound that caught him by surprise. Like most teenagers obsessed with music try to do, Rice just wanted to see what his voice sounded like when imitating his heroes -- Joni Mitchell, the Band, Neil Young, Bob Dylan. As consequence would have it, Rice decided to make his songwriting hobby a serious affair and returned to his native Virginia after spending most of his life growing up in Glasgow. He graduated from high school in May 2001 and soon befriended Washington, D.C., local Chris Keup of Grantham Dispatch.