I consider this my first “real” writing job in L.A. An orchestrator colleague of mine, who at the time knew me primarily as a player, introduced me to composer Snuffy Walden. I was a big _Wonder Years_ fan and was excited to work with him. _Crossroads_ was the first of a number of projects I worked on with Snuffy, initially as an arranger/orchestrator/performer and later as a composer. It had a wonderful rural feel to it and a lot of good “traveling music” moments. It was a tremendous learning opportunity and a chance for me to observe a top composer at work on a network show with its tight time frames, high standards, and so on. One of the most valuable things I learned from the experience was the importance of really absorbing the intent and shape of the dialog in quiet scenes. Music is so often blanketed under or over these scenes, but when handled sensitively, the simplest cues can be the most profound.