Don Ross blows away Place Concorde

A high profile musician and two-time fingerstyle guitar champion performed at the Place Concorde in Windsor, Jan. 19.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Don Ross performed at the Place Concorde with special guest Brooke Miller in Forest Glade. The night featured a combination of Jazz, blues, classical and folk music that Ross classifies as “Heavy Wood.”

According to music networking website, churcHouse, Ross is noted for his exceptional technique. He is the only person to win the U.S. National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship twice, once in 1988 and again in 1996.

“In 1988, I was so broke that I took a bus for 33 hours from Toronto to Wichita, Kan. and arrived almost too late to compete,” said Ross.

His album Huron Street reached ninth on the Billboard Top New Age Chart in 2001. In the liner notes to Ross’ 2003 album Robot Monster, Bruce Cockburn wrote, “Nobody does what Don Ross does with an acoustic guitar. He takes the corners so fast you think he’s going to roll, but he never loses control.”

Ross has toured regularly since 1989 across Canada, the U.S., dozens of European countries, Japan, Taiwan, Russia, China, India and Australia. He has played with symphony orchestras in Canada and Germany, and collaborated live and on recording with Canadian singer Andy McKee, and guitarist Brooke Miller.

“A lot of audiences in Europe are more reserved and focused on you throughout the performance,” said Miller. “Italian audiences are much more reserved and vocal. But the United Kingdom and Canadian audiences’ just feel like home,” said Miller.

He has composed scores for television, radio and film and does production and recording engineering for a variety of other musicians. Ross also plays electric guitar, slide dobro and lapsteel guitar, piano, keyboards, bass guitar and drums.

The night was sponsored by Radiant Maiden Tattoo Shop, Tecumseh Music Centre, Riverside Guitar Shop, The Lesson Lounge, Villains Beastro, Molson/Coors Brewery and churcHouse.

Organizer for churcHouse, Kevin Blondin works with a team bringing performances from local and national artists to Windosr and Essex County. churcHouse also works closely with artists and bands to create intimate and personalized custom productions.

“The Windsor music scene is blowing up with one great band after another emerging. And (churcHouse) is more than happy to work with all of them,“ said Blondin.

Ross will be playing Jan. 25 in Winnipeg and Jan. 27 in Ottawa.