Who Is this guy?
In a nutshell
A Quick Summary. The Elevator Speach for those with 30sec.
Dave Pickett is a husband, father, uncle, great uncle, son, brother, brother-in-law, son-in-law, nephew, grandson, neighbor, colleague, and friend. He is Blue Collar through and through including farming, residential construction, tree services, steel work, auto repair, and construction equipment operation. He has always been in music at varying degrees. His active Christian faith has served many church positions, and includes numerous 3rd world humanitarian efforts. In white collar circles, Dave put himself through college to gain two engineering degrees. With that education, he has served his country with many of our nation’s military branches and combatant commands for 20 yrs, and served Homeland Security for an additional 12 years. In April 2022 he produced his debut single ‘Give a Guy a Break (Revived)’ in Nashville, TN, and wants to bring national focus to blue collar workers who are struggling to economically survive due to post 2020 COVID-19 pandemic attitudes and national hyperinflation.
For those with more than 30 sec to read -- Continue..
The Early years
Starting In Farming. The roots of Blue Collar. A Love for Working with one's Hands.
Dave Pickett began his story farming in Maryland. Raising beef cattle among other livestock; growing crops, grinding and mixing feed to support animals; gardening; tending a small fruit orchard; and running/fixing well used farming and construction equipment. Dave owes his hard work ethic and working with his hands to farming, to include a love for how things work and grow, and for the desire to transform broken things to redeem their function and value. Dave’s memories include farming as a community activity, where the health of family units weren’t perfect but mattered, and where families pitched in to support those in need of hope. The Pickett family was also active in 4H and FFA.
Music
Music has always been a staple.
Dave’s father was a lead trumpet player in a drum and bugle corps, directed church choir, and attempted to create a family music group at one point. Regarding sports in high-school, Dave’s dad left one choice – “We could either be in band, or band”. Marching band, symphonic band, and jazz band to be accurate. As a vocalist, church music for Dave was always a focus to include being a minister of music, running a sound room, directing praise and worship, and being a consistent choir member. Dave and his two brothers spent years singing in the Southern Gospel quartet ‘In One Achord' where Dave sang Baritone. They performed many ‘Gaither Vocal Band’ songs at churches and firehalls. Although the group auditioned for the WPOC Sunday in the Country Competition, they were turned down, so Dave performed a solo audition the following year, and was selected. The picture shows Dave as a top 5 finalist for the Washington D.C., Baltimore metro region WPOC National Anthem Sunday In the Country Competition.
FAITH & COMMUNITY
Consistantly Help Where You Can. Love In Action.
It's refreshing to Dave to know that the name Jesus is more than a swear word in the Country Music genre, and given that he is a practicing Christian understands the balance of applied science and applied faith. A practiced and applied faith to Dave and his family is one where action is more than cheap words, and includes humanitarian efforts in the U.S. and abroad, and proactively engaging neighbor's needs. Humanitarian efforts include Guatemala, Haiti, and South Africa, helping to stabilize severe poverty and to stem the tide of millions of children impacted by the African aids crisis. State side includes: aiding hurting military, rebuilding homes for the poor, helping rescue missions, and hosting children through compassion international, to name a few of their focus areas.
Protecting Our Nation & White-Collar Duties
Duty, Honor, Country, Protect, Defend.
Following high school, Dave acted on his love for how things worked by obtaining the first of two degrees as a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE), specializing in telecommunications and electromagnetic physics, followed by a masters in Systems Engineering cert. Paying his own way through college for his BSEE was tough, and took just over 9 years to accomplish having to work full time while attending night school, and included a short stay at Virginia Tech. Dave did not have the opportunity to serve in our nation’s armed forces as did his father and five uncles, yet, his destiny and applied education would not stray very far. In the 41 years since leaving high school, Dave has served 20 of those years in direct/indirect support of the Army, Navy, Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Border Patrol, and intelligence communities, including CENTCOM, PACCOM, and SOUTHCOM. Dave recalled: “In those areas of direct military support, Our Job was to promote successful missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to bring deployed military back to their families in one piece. Most did meet that requirement, but there were some who didn’t come back. They will be forever remembered and missed. Others, who came back broken, were greeted by wounded warriors and the VA who promoted healing. For that, I will be forever grateful.” For the last 12 years, Dave has served in Homeland Security, defending our nation against terrorism on U.S. soil.
Trees and More Faith In Action
Do What You Can with What You Have.
In 2008 when Dave and Cinthia Pickett wrote the original ‘Give a Guy a Break’ demo, the intent was to draw county & state level attention to family and friends who were struggling financially. At that time, other methods were found to be more effective, so the song and demo were shelved. Instead, Dave kick-started a home-based tree service, called iArborPRO, for neighbors requiring relief from natural disasters, and to offset injury to families by removing high-risk trees. Dave’s been asked if he actually climbs trees, and if so, how high? His current record is about 120 feet for a 130-foot poplar tree.
Athletics & Bucket Lists
Dad said I Couldn’t Be an Athlete in High School... However…
Dave has always been an athlete at heart, preferring to play sports rather than watch. Although family and work left little time for the many varied sports Dave enjoyed, he typically focused on three long-term: water skiing, snow skiing, and rock climbing. Tree climbing for iArborPRO came in handy and kept his passion of rock climbing alive, while water skiing included just about everything: pyramids, distance jumping, trick skis, slalom, kneeboard tricks, and yes, even Barfoot skiing at 42 mph (’98; age 35).
Age is just a number..
And age hasn’t seemed to slow him down, viewing: Water ski slalom (’21, age 58) and Colorado climbing center (’20: age 57). Although a knee injury from the 2016 National USSA Snow Skiing competition pulled back the throttle a little.
Bucket Lists & Delayed Goals.
Then in 2008 Dave revived a bucket list item that was put on hold 25 years earlier, trading it initially for night school. He decided to continue his pursuits in amateur alpine Giant Slalom ski racing, and over the next 12 years climbed the ranks with nearly 430 races under his belt.
He recalls, “This wasn’t an easy lift considering my afforded average of 4 race days per season, while my competition spent months on the slopes that same season - but, I did Ok.” Regardless, competition outcomes now include: twice Maryland state champion; Being cleared in 2013 to run world cup races in the international Master’s Program; Qualifying 9 times for the USSA national competition; and in 2016 being ranked in the top-250 best racers in the nation in the 238th position of nearly 10,000* racers. Which, by the way includes members of the U.S ski team like Ted Ligety and other notables. Being state champion implied being the fastest of all racers representing Maryland for that season, including all age brackets.
He recalls, “This wasn’t an easy lift considering my afforded average of 4 race days per season, while my competition spent months on the slopes that same season - but, I did Ok.” Regardless, competition outcomes now include: twice Maryland state champion; Being cleared in 2013 to run world cup races in the international Master’s Program; Qualifying 9 times for the USSA national competition; and in 2016 being ranked in the top-250 best racers in the nation in the 238th position of nearly 10,000* racers. Which, by the way includes members of the U.S ski team like Ted Ligety and other notables. Being state champion implied being the fastest of all racers representing Maryland for that season, including all age brackets.
The latest addition of Dave Pickett's racing exploits came in January 2020 at Steamboat Colorado, where he took 3rd, 2nd, and 1st over three days of racing, to include beating the course times of both pace setters. Given that the pace setters were 34 years younger (23 & 25 yrs old), they agreed to show good sportsmanship with a picture (23yr old & Dave). For the 2020 season and at the age of 57, Dave posted 2nd overall for the State of Maryland, and was ranked 63rd out of 1,170 racers at Steamboat, Colorado.