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Release Date: 09-06-1997
Label: Hearts of Space
Catalog Number: HS11055-4
Barcode: 25041105545
Musical Style: Christmas
Track Listing:
For track listings please see the CD version's details hereBiography:
John Doan was an eleven year old living in Venice, California when he began playing guitar. Given the setting, it's only natural that his earliest passion was surf music. He later became interested in classical guitar and earned a degree in Music Perfomance from Cal State Northridge. John furthered his musical education after moving to Oregon, where he earned a Masters in Musical Education from Western Oregon State and served on the faculty. He studied renaissance lute in Paris and baroque lute in The Netherlands. Playing lute set the stage for mastery of his true calling: the harp guitar.
The version of the harp guitar that John plays is a 20 string instrument created at the end of the last century in Europe and America. It supplements the standard guitar's six fretted strings with six unfretted sub-bass strings, but its most distinctive sound is the crystalline harp tones of the 8 treble strings that complete the instrument. These high strings ring with bell-like clarity and have magnificent sustain.
The harp guitar was widely popular in turn of the century America as a parlor instrument and was available from famous makers like Gibson and Martin. It gradually fell out of favor but is now the subject of renewed interest thanks to the recording and performing efforts of Doan and others.
John has performed with a diverse range of artists from Burl Ives to Larry Carlton and his virtuoso playing and arranging has attracted praise from no less a guitar luminary than Chet Atkins. He has starred in two much-loved television specials produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting: A Christmas to Remember With John Doan and A Victorian Christmas With John Doan, which was nominated for an Emmy. He lives near Salem, Oregon with his wife Deirdre, where he is an Assistant Professor of Music at Willamette University.
