David Shelow

music background

“Folk art is, indeed, the oldest of the aristocracies of thought, and because it refuses what is passing and trivial, the merely clever and pretty, as certainly as the vulgar and insincere, and because it has gathered into itself the simplest and most unforgettable thoughts of generations, it is the soil where all great art is rooted.” William Butler Yeats, The Celtic Twilight, 1902

Born and reared in the broad flat corn country of northern Illinois, I learned to play the guitar by ear. I attribute my musical inclination to growing up in a family active in the Baptist church. My mother was a gifted pianist and organist; my father led the congregational singing and was a favorite solo gospel vocalist. As a team, they provided the core of musical worship, every Sunday.

Like thousands of American guitarists, I took up my father’s nineteen dollar Stella at the age of twelve, learning folk, blues, and gospel tunes. Exploring classical guitar in my college years, I later aspired to the finger-style mastery of John Fahey, John Renbourn, and the rhythm and flatpicking wizardry of John Doyle.

As a strictly instrumental guitarist, I let the guitar do the singing. Incorporating melodies from Irish, Scottish and American roots, my repertoire has provided an evocative musical soundscape for many events in the Pittsburgh area for many years.

I play American-made Guild guitars.

photo by John Kitchen