David Ross Macdonald

Biography

(cited from interview by Ron Forbes-Roberts, Vancouver 2007)

Contents

• David ross macdonald turn for you moon mountain sessions
• David ross macdonald rocks and snow live artwells 2012
• Biography
• Discography
• Songs
• References

David Ross Macdonald is a guitarist and singer/songwriter who is also known as the drummer for Australian folk band The Waifs.

Born into a musical household in 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, drummer for The Police, MacDonald took up the drums and while getting his degree in Geology 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.

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 for tips. He bought a 1940s mail order guitar in Vancouver, British Columbia and immersed himself in the music of John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, Bruce Cockburn, and various Americana-style musicians. These studies would form the basis of the intricate fingerstyle guitar work for which MacDonald has become known.

He returned to Australia in 1999 and rejoined The Waifs who were soon touring internationally. MacDonald recalls particularly exciting performances at the Newport Folk Festival and opening for Bob Dylan. In 2002 he recorded his debut CD Southern Crossing. “I rambled around Australia with a laptop and a microphone”, he explains. “I had 12 luthiers 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, Australia, debuting its songs to fans during an Australian tour with Kelly Joe Phelps. 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, Port Fairy Folk Festival, Yackendandah Folk Festival, The National Folk Festival, Stan Rogers 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)