Fall 2009

Greetings friends,
This summer has just flown by. After APHC finished up for the season, I spent time teaching at guitar camp in North Carolina, playing concerts and festivals throughout the Midwest, riding bicycles around the Twin Cities and grilling on my backyard barbecue. Now kids are back in school, the nights are getting cooler, Brett Favre is playing for the Vikings (!) and it’s time once again to turn my attention to music.

In between weekend shows this fall on A Prairie Home Companion, I plan to squeeze in a few select concerts I hope you might find it in your heart and wallet to attend. On Tuesday, October 6th, I will be at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota. On Sunday, November 8th, I will be in Shoreview, Minnesota and on Thursday, November 12th, I will be at The Three Crows in Delano, Minnesota. Saturday, November 14th will find me at the Arts Under The Dome in Gulfport, Mississippi. On Saturday, March 6th of next year, I will again be headlining the Roots And Blues show at the Fitzgerald Theatre in St. Paul with special guests Butch Thompson, Howard Levy, Gary Raynor, Peter Johnson, and a few crowd-pleasing surprises I am still working on. Click here to check my calendar for times and other information. You know I’d love to see you there.

Following the success of PINK GUITAR and MY FAVORITE MARTIN, the good folks at Solid Air Records have come out with POPPIN’ GUITARS, a collection of solo guitar versions of the most famous songs from Disney movies written by brothers Richard and Robert Sherman, and asked me to play the ever-popular “Let’s Get Together” from THE PARENT TRAP. Fellow guitarists include Tommy Emmanuel, Lawrence Juber, Mike Dowling and 11 others, and the CD includes a bonus DVD with performances, interviews and other cool stuff. For more information or to order a copy, please click here. Here’s what movie reviewer Leonard Maltin had to say about it:

POPPIN’ GUITARS: A TUNEFUL OF SHERMAN (Solid Air Records) — Producer James Jensen has compiled a lovely CD of acoustic guitar solos featuring the music of The Sherman Brothers. These tuneful, upbeat songs work amazingly well even without their indelible lyrics—or is it just that they’re so ingrained in my consciousness that I’m singing along in my head? Either way, this CD features the work of many fine musicians including Laurence Juber, Tommy Emmanuel, Al Petteway, Kenny Sultan, Greg Hawkes, Doug Smith, Mark Hanson, Pat Donohue (whom I listen to every week on A Prairie Home Companion), Jim Tozier, Eltjo Haselhoff, Elliot Easton, Mike Dowling, Nick Charles, and Tim Pacheco. This album serves as a reminder of how beautiful the guitar can sound when played by a master, without any rhythmic accompaniment. Every track is a treat, although I must single out Doug Smith’s exceptional performance of “Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag).” If you purchase the CD from amazon.com you’ll receive a behind-the-scenes DVD as well.

One of the projects I finally got around to starting this summer is the cleanup of my practice space in the basement of the Bluesky communications empire next to the washer and dryer.  I immediately got sidetracked opening the cases and playing some of my old guitars I hadn’t played in years, like my Guild 12-string and vintage ES-175 hollow body, the quintessential jazz guitar.  It was like seeing old friends again and picking up right where we last left off. 

On a related note, I am happy to report that my Pat Donohue Signature Series OM-30DB guitar is really aging into a fine musical instrument and that pickers out there are still ordering the model and speaking well of it.  One player posted a review on the Internet calling it his “dream guitar, the best [he] ever owned.”  I can’t thank you all enough for your kind words. 

I have always enjoyed Butch Thompson’s piano and clarinet playing since his days on APHC, and I am pleased to announce he and I are collaborating on a duet album of blues, early jazz, ragtime and standards. I’ll keep you posted on that project.

And I have booked recording time and begun work on my next solo album, which should be out in 2010 and will include a number of previously unreleased Pat Donohue songs like “Too Gone” and “The Irish Blues.” It’s not too late to contact me and remind me of songs you want to hear over and over again on a CD.

Wishing you all happy days and warm nights from the other end of the Mississippi River. I hope to see you soon. Thanks always for your encouragement and support.

—Pat