Brian Waller
President, Technology Association of Iowa

Guitar/mandolin/piano player/composer

Brian Waller got interested in playing guitar when he was in his 20s and 30s, performing with a band at Vaudeville Mews. The selections: John Prine, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, J.J.Cale, local favorite Greg Brown. He also played with the Nadas here and there.

His advancing career and his role as a father has relegated him to mostly composing and playing in the living room of his West Des Moines home tucked into a woodland south of Grand Avenue. “Now, with two little kids, I play in the living room,” Waller said. Except for an occasional appearance with violinist Dan Lorentzen or with poet Jim Autry. His days in Dark Horse Patrol and Electric Junction are behind him, but he still enjoys improvising in his living room, barefoot as though he were Paul McCartney crossing Abbey Road.

He has a whole collection of guitars, and a mandolin that is a recent addition just for fun.

Waller has been playing for 16 years. He first got the vibe in Fort Collins, Colo., when he was studying at Colorado State. He moved to Des Moines in 2003 and worked for the Science Center of Iowa and the state economic development office before taking over at the Technology Association of Iowa.

Sometimes Waller composes on the guitar, sometimes on piano. Either way, it’s therapeutic, and his iPad helps record the score.

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