PORT TOWNSEND — Grammy-winning fingerpicker Pat Donohue will pluck out blues, swing, R&B and original tunes in an intimate concert in Port Townsend at 8 p.m. today.
The performance will be held in the Rainshadow Recording Studio at Fort Worden, 200 Battery Way.
Tickets of $20 for today’s concert can be purchased in advance at patdonohuept.brownpapertickets.com.
Donohue was featured on the NPR radio program “A Prairie Home Companion” as the lead guitar player and songwriter for the Guys All-Star Shoe Band for more than two decades.
According to organizers, his acoustic and versatile guitar sounds echo the tones of Robert Johnson, Blind Blake, Merle Travis and Muddy Waters.
Now, Donohue is touring the U.S. to host guitar workshops and stage at a variety of venues, including performance halls and coffeehouses.
He also recently released the CD “Blue Yonder,” a co-production with Prairie All-Stars who were also members of the Guys All-Star Shoe Band that features solo tracks, new originals and three new instrumental numbers.
Honors include a 2005 Grammy for his participation on Pink Guitar, a compilation of Henry Mancini tunes on acoustic guitar, several Minnesota Music Awards and the title of 1983 National Finger Picking Guitar Champion.
His original tunes have been recorded by Chet Atkins, Suzy Bogguss and Kenny Rogers.
Donohue has also been a featured performer at major music festivals including the Newport, Telluride and Philadelphia folk festivals.
He joins a legendary list of notables, as the Martin Guitar Company recently introduced a Custom Signature Edition Series OM-30DB guitar designed to his specifications.
He has been obsessed with the guitar since he first picked one up at age 12 and began learning simple chords and melodies from a Pete Seeger instructional book.
His background as a drummer in a garage rock band helped with the transition, and he never looked back. As a youth, the St. Paul, Minn., native pestered guitarists playing at Twin Cities coffeehouses and blues venues, seeking tips on playing.
Borrowing bits and pieces of the styles of fingerpicking pioneers he admired, he taught himself to play, building a repertoire favored by Blind Blake, Django Reinhart and Chet Atkins.
Parking is free and Discover Passes are not required to attend the concert.
For more information, email concert organizer Everett Moran at centrum recording@gmail.com.
