Backroads &Bodywraps
by Stephen A. Ide
If it were it easy, every fingerstyle guitarist would play as well as Pat Donohue. A Midwesterner with the rhythm of a drummer and the soul of a New Orleans saxophonist, Donohue has the fingers of the world's finest guitarists. At 45, he brings his talent weekly to the radio stage of A Prairie Home Companion, where he started regularly playing in its band in 1993. You'll also catch him on concert stages nationwide and in the lesson room, where he teaches guitar playing. Though he was named National Finger Picking Guitar Champion in 1983, perhaps the greatest testament to the virtuosity of Donohue's guitar playing is the kudos he receives from fellow musicians. Guitar great Leo Kottke calls Donohue's playing "haunting." And Chet Atkins jokes on Donohue's latest album, Backroads, that perhaps it's time for him to steal from Pat. "One time I was on the air, I was playing with Chet and suddenly he just told everybody that he thought I was one of the best fingerpickers in the world," Donohue said. "It's hard to get past that."
This is an excerpt from Dirty Linen #77
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© 1998 Dirty Linen, Ltd., Baltimore MD
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