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Roots Acoustic — Americana — Traditional — Folk Rock |
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My Musical Bio: - Born in Cleveland, OH in 1955, I studied classical piano and clarinet as a young child. - Moved to Richmond, VA in the early 1960's - continued piano and clarinet study and began to sing in my church choir and school chorus. - As a preteen, I joined a neighborhood rock and roll band - The Peace Machine - playing keyboards and bass guitar and singing lead/harmony vocals.
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- Played at parties, school dances and battles of the bands through my mid teens - music from artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Traffic, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles. - Started focusing on acoustic folk, folk rock and traditional music in the early 1970's - music from the likes of The Band, Grateful Dead, CSN&Y, Ry Cooder, Bob Dylan. - Became enthralled with bluegrass music after hearing the 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken' record along with the progressive bluegrass bands of that time such as Newgrass Revival, Seldom Scene. I picked up the banjo as my primary instrument in 1973. - Moved to the San Francisco Bay area in 1974 and continued to pursue traditional and non-traditional acoustic music with banjo as my primary instrument and started playing mandolin around 1976. - In 1977 formed a folk duo called 'Probably Nobody' in Mountain View, CA with me on banjo, mandolin and vocals and my friend Lee Lotz (guitar, vocals) - Moved to the Washington, DC area in 1978 - played banjo solo and with various friends at gigs, parties and on the streets of Georgetown while majoring in Audio Techniques at American University and staging small, medium, and large venue events as part of the Student Union Concert Committee. - Ultimately shifted from banjo to mandolin and acoustic guitar around 1979. Was one of the founding members of 'No Strings Attached', a DC based bluegrass band, as a guitarist and vocalist with Bob Hummer (guitar, vocals), Steve George (mandolin, fiddle, guitar, vocals), Dan Mazer (banjo, vocals), Dave Whitaker (dobro, vocals), Dave Bernhardt (bass) - In 1981 helped form 'Laurie Hyde and Blue Mountain' with Laurie (guitar, vocals) Bob Hummer (guitar, vocals) and me on mandolin, guitar and vocals. The trio was established primarily to promote Laurie's original songs - most notably 'Me & Wille' later released by Emmylou Harris. In addition to Laurie's originals, we played a wide variety of music from the likes of The Band, James Taylor, Neil Young, Sam Cook, Jonathan Edwards, Country Joe McDonald plus a number of traditional arrangements. Played in this trio until it disbanded in July, 1983 - Stopped playing music professionally at that time and focused primarily on my career in audio and raising a family - only playing casually over the next 15 - 20 years. - In mid 2001 I reconnected with some old friends and began to play more seriously again - resuming work on the mandolin and guitar while later adding the bouzouki. I started to write songs and began to play covers from artists such as Tim O’Brien, Darrell Scott, Garcia/Grisman/Rice, Norman Blake, Richard Thompson, Gillian Welch, Buddy & Julie Miller, Steve Earle, etc. - In 2004 I formed a Roots/Folk Rock band called the Druthers with me on mandolin, guitar, bouzouki and vocals. The lineup for the band included Sassy Mack (lead and backing vocals), Dan Mack (guitar, mandolin and vocals) Rob Melcore (resophonic guitar) and John Cisco (bass) until we disbanded in early 2009. - Through the late winter and spring of 2009 I began to focus more on songwriting and, in late May, attended a pivotal event in Nashville at the Songwriting Intensive held by Darrell Scott and Mary Gauthier. A truly profound experience both spiritually and in the grounding I came away with for my writing, I highly recommend this to any and every songwriter out there! - While focusing primarily on my songwriting, I currently play solo gigs and songwriter events plus ensemble performances with friends such as The Scrub Pines and others. For bookings, to get on my email list, or other inquiries, please email me HERE I hope to see you out there sometime soon! Cheers! Don |
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Don Walters Music |
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Website © 2009 Don Walters All Rights Reserved |