John Doan performs and composes for the 20 stringed Harp Guitar. He also plays dozens of other stringed instruments including the classical guitar, three necked Harpolyre, vihuela, renaissance and baroque lute, harpolyre, lyre guitar, classical banjo and banjuerine, numerous American zithers,mandolin, uke, etc.
His Celtic Pilgrimage concert features his music for the harp guitar along with storytelling and a multimedia presentation. Both his recordings Eire and Wayfarer were nominated for "Best Celtic Album of the Year" with Eire winning the title.
His Victorian Christmas concert features two dozen authentic instruments from a century ago along with storytelling and slides of archival photos of people making their own music. This program was broadcast on PBS affiliates and was nominated for "Best Entertainment Special of the Year."
John also performs concerts that feature the harp guitar that draw upon his travels and across styles that range from American folk song to Jimi Hendrix.
CD's and DVD's of all of the above are available at www.johndoan.com
Influences
John's music influences span centuries and cross various musical styles from renaissance lute and vihuela music (John Dowland, Francisco De Milano, Luis De Navarez), classical guitar music (Fernando Sor, Issac Albeniz, Heitor Villa Lobos), to American fingerstyle and country blues guitar (John Hurt, John Fahey, John Renbourn, Stephen Grossman, Alex Degrassi, among others. The Celtic music of Alan Stivell (Renaissance of the Celtic Harp), O'Carolan, The Bothy Band, and the Cheiftains also have influenced John's music. American contemporary styles of surf music (The Ventures), and various rock styles from rock and roll (Chuck Berry), folk rock (The Byrds, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Crosby Stills, Nash and Young), British Invasion (The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Donovan), and the piano styling of Fats Waller and George Winston) can also be found in John's music. The jazz stylings of Glenn Miller, Kenny Rankin, and Antonio Carlos Jobim also have impacted his music.
MERRY CHRISTMAS.....SONG WRITTEN AND FILMED BY MY WIFE DEIRDRA WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM ME...JOHN DOAN
Sounds Like
John's music explores contemporary guitar stylings in the American fingerstyle movement. Other artists include Alex DeGrassi, William Ackerman, Michael Hedges, Pierre Bensusan, among others. His music has been categorized as New Age, World Music, Acoustic which includes artists such as Enya, Lorena McKinett, George Winston, Nightnoise, among others.
IN CONCERT CLIPS
PATRICK IN THE SPIRIT; STORY AND SONG ON LOCATION AT TARA/SLANE IRELAND
DVD PROJECT IN PROGRESS
FERNADO SOR HARPOLYRE 1830
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John Doan, one of the few masters of the rare twenty-string harp guitar, has performed with a diverse range of artists including pop star Donovan, folk legend Burl Ives, jazz ace Larry Carlton, as a member of the New Christy Minstrels with Randy Sparks, among others and his virtuoso playing and arranging has attracted praise from no less a guitar luminary than Chet Atkins. He recently contributed a chapter to "Between the Strings - the Secret Lives of Guitars" a veritable compendium of the world's greatest guitarists with introduction by B.B. King. He has appeared in numerous publications including the Washington Post and Billboard Magazine as well as staring in two much-loved television specials produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting: "A Christmas to Remember With John Doan" (seen on PBS) and his Emmy nominated "A Victorian Christmas With John Doan." His latest recordings on Hearts O' Space Records have been nominated for "Best Celtic Album of the Year" with Eire - Isle of the Saints winning that title. His music has also been featured on numerous prime-time television and movie productions including Walt Disney, among others. His lastest video project is a 90 minute documentary that he wrote and starred in titled "In Search of the Harp Guitar." John recently hosted an International Harp Guitar Festival at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon where he is an Associate Professor of Music. He lives near Salem with his wife Deirdra atop of an extinct volcano overlooking the Willamette Valley (he is hoping his view will not be enhanced in the coming years).
BUYING A HARP GUITAR!!!
The first thing I would recommend is to go to my website
www.johndoan.com and order my latest DVD titled "In Search of the Harp
Guitar" which goes inside the leading workshops where harp guitars are
made. I am particularly excited about the work of Stephen Sedgwick of
England for quality and price. Mike
Doolin in Oregon is also a fine maker. His harp
guitars begin around $8K.
Learn about Harp Guitars at www.harpguitars.net
(Jeffrey Elliott & John Sullivan designed and constructed John's 20 string Harp Guitar in 1986)
After you've finished here, you may like to hear this poem sung on myspace...
Poem 162 of 230, WalkaboutsVerse (please see my blog): TEES TO TYNE: FIRST IMPRESSIONS - SUMMER 2001
Where traditions are not so rare; Sea, country and works scent the air; A multitude of monuments, Planted tubs and patterned pavements.
The longish pedestrian malls; The remnants of defensive walls; Historic buildings are a gauge Of the respect for heritage.
Wheat, rape and pines in the fields; Estuaries guarded by shields; Long sandy beaches and wide scenes; Romantic-ruin go-betweens.
Rivers in parts licked by trees, Or fringed by boat clubs, wharfs, gantries, And crossed by practical delights - Varied spans, forming pleasing sights.
Fine churches headed at Durham; Football kits ad infinitum; Kept castles - one for study; Masonry behind masonry.
And, with moulding-works out that way, It’s somewhere for a longer stay..?
Thank you - your music is Fantastic! I've been listening to your cd-" The Lost Music of Fernando Sor." I feel inspired to learn to play the Harpguitar. I love the range and tone of the instrument. I've played some classical guitar, but listening to you and some other Harpguitarists, I now have a new and renewed passion for acoustic guitar(Harpguitar). Thank you !
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