Biography

David Ross Macdonald is a guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 and singer/songwriter who is also known as the drummer for Australian folk band The Waifs

The Waifs

The Waifs are an Australian folk rock band formed in 1992 by Josh Cunningham , and sisters Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson...

.

Born into a musical household in Millicent

Millicent, South Australia

Millicent is a town in South Australia, south-east of Adelaide, and north of Mount Gambier. At the 2006 Census, the population was 4,771.The town is home to the Millicent National Trust Museum, and is nearby to the Tantanoola Caves Conservation Park and the Canunda National Park.The Millicent...

, Australia, David Ross MacDonald says of his childhood, “There were always instruments to muck around with at home. I played piano as a kid and took some classical guitar lessons as a teenager.” Inspired by Stewart Copeland

Stewart Copeland

Stewart Armstrong Copeland is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band The Police. During the group's extended hiatus from the mid-1980s to 2007, he played in other bands and composed soundtracks...

, drummer for The Police

The Police

The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...

, MacDonald took up the drums and while getting his degree in Geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 he drummed in his geology department’s “glam band”, The Rock Doctors. After working as a geologist for two years he decided to get serious about drumming and enrolled in a jazz school in Perth

Perth, Western Australia (suburb)

Perth is a locality covering the central inner-city area and central business district of the Perth, Western Australia metropolitan region. Perth is split between the City of Perth and the City of Vincent local authorities. Perth was named after Perth, Scotland.-Built environment:The dominant land...

.

He returned to work as a geologist but kept his hand in music and joined the Ragabillys. The band was fronted by guitarist Rodney Vervest whose fingerstyle guitar work reignited MacDonald’s interest in the instrument. "I loved watching him play, “says MacDonald. “I picked up the guitar after an absence of many years and he gave me a few lessons."

MacDonald was touring the West Coast of Australia with the Ragabillys in 1998 when the popular Australian folk group The Waifs heard him play and asked him to join the band. After working with the group for six months, he left to backpack through Canada, the US, Europe, and the UK, busking on the bodhran

Bodhrán

The bodhrán is an Irish frame drum ranging from 25 to 65 cm in diameter, with most drums measuring 35 to 45 cm . The sides of the drum are 9 to 20 cm deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side...

 for tips. He bought a ‘40’s mail order guitar in Vancouver, British Columbia and immersed himself in the music of John Renbourn

John Renbourn

John Renbourn is an English guitarist and songwriter. He is possibly best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career before, during and after that band's existence .While most commonly labelled a...

, Bert Jansch

Bert Jansch

Herbert "Bert" Jansch was a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle. He was born in Glasgow and came to prominence in London in the 1960s, as an acoustic guitarist, as well as a singer-songwriter...

, Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. His most recent album was released in March 2011. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll.-Biography:...

, and various Americana

Americana

Americana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects,...

-style musicians. These studies would form the basis of the intricate fingerstyle guitar work for which MacDonald has become known.

He returned to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 in 1999 and rejoined The Waifs who were soon touring internationally. MacDonald recalls particularly exciting performances at the Newport Folk Festival

Newport Folk Festival

The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...

 and opening for Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

. In 2002 he recorded his debut CD Southern Crossing. “I rambled around Australia with a laptop and a microphone”, he explains. “I had 12 luthier

Luthier

A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...

s I was keen on visiting. I hung out with them playing their guitars in workshops and kitchens while making the CD. It turned out fairly well, I think."

Others agreed, and Southern Crossing received enthusiastic attention from guitar fans and the music press. This coverage included an article in Acoustic Guitar magazine lauding MacDonald’s guitar work on the all-instrumental CD.

In 2004, he recorded his 2nd album Far From Here in Australia. This CD showcased the song writing skills, he’d been developing since writing his first song in 1999. Inspiration for his songs comes from a number of sources, he says. “There is often some deeper truth, early recollection or romantic tragedy that captures my imagination. I attempt to weave in the words and spin a story or picture or feeling. The music is sometimes already there from hours of thoughtless and at times concerted guitar composition. Sometimes the guitar music will set the mood; sometimes it’s the other way round, but almost always it inspires and is rapidly coalesced into the finished song. There’s very little lyrical reworking. If anything, words are taken out to increase the cryptic and mystical quality I prefer in song writing.”

In early 2006, MacDonald recorded Knuckled Brass and Bone in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia, debuting its songs to fans during an Australian tour with Kelly Joe Phelps

Kelly Joe Phelps

Kelly Joe Phelps is an American musician and songwriter. His music has been characterized as a mixture of delta blues and jazz.-Career:...

. The album quickly enjoyed rotation on folk oriented radio stations in North America, Europe and Australia.

By 2007 The Waifs touring schedule slowed allowing Macdonald to increase solo performance touring that have seen him perform at international folk festivals including, Edmonton Folk Festival, North Country Fair, South Country Fair, Vancouver Island Music Festival, Sunshine Music Festival, Salmon Arm Blues and Roots Festival, Ness Creek Festival, Trout Forest Music Festival, Ottawa Folk Festival, Winterfolk, Woodford Folk Festival

Woodford Folk Festival

The Woodford Folk Festival is an annual music festival held near the small country town of Woodford, 72 km north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the biggest annual cultural events of its type in Australia....

, Port Fairy

Port Fairy Folk Festival

The Port Fairy Folk Festival is a popular annual four-day music festival based in the historic fishing village of Port Fairy in Victoria, Australia....

 Folk Festival, Yackendandah Folk Festival, The National Folk Festival, Stan Rogers

Stan Rogers

Stanley Allison "Stan" Rogers was a Canadian folk musician and songwriter.Rogers was noted for his rich, baritone voice and his finely crafted, traditional-sounding songs which were frequently inspired by Canadian history and the daily lives of working people, especially those from the fishing...

Festival, Mariposa Folk Festival, Apollo Bay Music Festival, Live From The Rock, Sisters Folk Festival, Fairbridge Folk Festival and Blue Skies Festival.

In 2008 David Ross went 'to ground'. Leaving behind the idea of one physical home, Macdonald decided to 'go troubadour' and although running his label Pepper Tree Records out of Australia his true home would become planet laptop and at time of this writing was of no fixed address.

2010 saw the recording of his fourth released studio album 'Thorns To Sleep' produced and engineered by Shane O'Mara at Yikesville Studios in Melbourne Australia. His most moody and ambitious work in the line of albums it has the inclusion of Melanie Robinson on cello, Rae Howell on vibraphone, Steve Hadley double bass, Karen Heath bass clarinet, Peter Knight trumpet, Don Stewart trombone, Jaye Kranz vocals and Shane O'Mara electric guitars, dobro, piano and vocals.

Discography

2000 Strings & Fingers (Indi)
2002 Southern Crossing (Indi)
2004 Far From Here (Pepper Tree Records)
2006 Knuckled Brass and Bone (Pepper Tree Records)
2010 Thorns to Sleep (Pepper Tree Records)

Links

Official Web Site www.davidrossmacdonald.com

Official Web Site The Waifs