Lincoln M. Starnes was born in Salisbury, Maryland, in 1962. As a boy, his interests were history, exploration, and motorcycles. As a young man, he taught himself to play banjo, guitar, and harmonica and developed a love of jazz, rock ’n’ roll, and the blues. In his early twenties, he worked in Montana and Wyoming, where he climbed mountains and explored the backcountry in his off time. In 1985, he graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in English. For the past twenty-one years, he has worked as a courier for FedEx. He lives in Georgia with his wife and daughter.