Waterdeep: a short history for the uninitiated
(and/or for those with extra time on their hands and a shortage of reading material)

Don and Lori met at the University of Kansas way back when her last name was something other than Chaffer. They played together for a year in a band called Hey Ruth, recording several early projects between 1990 and 1992 that now comprise a double CD collection called Old Stuff. while recording a solo project in 1994, Don met the players, including Brandon Graves, who would, in June of 1995, become Waterdeep's first lineup. (Pardon the overuse of commas in the preceding sentence...)

They recorded an album called To Chase Away the Birds. In June of 1996 Don and Lori were married, and Lori joined Waterdeep. After a couple of personnel changes on bass and guitar, the band recorded Sink or Swim, which released in March of 1997. A live project, Live At the New Earth, was released in early 1999. Between the taping and the release, two members left, Kenny Carter joined as bass player and Christena graves joined on keyboards. Four of the band members recorded a joint project with the group 100 portraits called Enter the Worship Circle, which also released in early 1999. Waterdeep sold over 40,000 copies of their independent projects.