 Don Ross |
Don Ross has emerged as one of the most respected musicians in Canada and one of the top guitarists in the world. In September 1996, he managed to do what no other player has done: win the prestigious U.S. National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship for the second time (he first won in 1988).
The son of a Scottish immigrant father and a Mikm’aq aboriginal mother, Ross was born in 1960 into a musical family. He first started experimenting with the solo possibilities of the acoustic guitar at the age of eight. By age ten he was playing in alternate tunings and exploring “fingerstyle” technique, a right hand discipline similar to classical guitar playing. Preferring to write original music and develop a personal style, Ross’s self-taught journey on the instrument has encouraged him to follow his musical intuition. The result is an unclassifiable musical style that borrows from jazz, folk, rock, and classical music. When asked, Ross usually pigeonholes his music as “Heavy Wood!”
Ross graduated from the music department of Toronto’s York University in 1983, but waited until 1986 to start pursuing a career as a performer. After his first fingerstyle championship win, Ross was asked to sign with Duke Street Records. He recorded three CDs for Duke Street over the course of the next four years, Bearing Straight, Don Ross, and Three Hands. The CDs met with critical acclaim and numerous tours across Canada and the U.S. Ross even played at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
Ross signed a new recording deal with Columbia/Sony Music in 1994, releasing his first album for the label, This Dragon Won’t Sleep, in 1995. Since the album’s release, Ross has toured extensively, including four tours of Germany with Vancouver singer/guitarist Michael Friedman. In the fall of 1996 Ross released Wintertide, an instrumental album of traditional Christmas tunes played in his trademark style. Lynn Saxberg of the Ottawa Citizen called the CD a “masterpiece,” and the public response was no less enthusiastic. In 1997 he released Loaded. Leather. Moonroof. Inspired by quirky titles and peculiar situations, it is a collection of melodic tunes that, as he describes, “...is another chapter in [his] exploration for a rich sense of harmony and groove.” His latest CD was Huron Street in 2001.
Ross has spent the last 20 years living in Toronto, New York, Alberta, and Massachusetts.
In celebration of the arts at Wabash, admission to all events on this year’s Visiting Artists Series are FREE. However, you must obtain your FREE tickets at the Fine Arts Box Office before attending Visiting Artists Series productions. Tickets are available from the Fine Arts Box Office Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. until curtain time. For phone reservations, call 765-361-6411.
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