Mike Dowling is an American roots music guitarist and songwriter who is best known for his solo arrangements on the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

-winning composition CD '' Henry Mancini: Pink Guitar''. In 2005, Dowling was ranked as one of the twelve best fingerstyle guitarists in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Early life

Dowling was raised in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

before moving to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. He learned about song structures while taking piano lessons when he was ten years old. Dowling got his first guitar when he was twelve years old.

Career

After dropping out of college, Dowling was hired by fiddler

Vassar Clements Vassar Carlton Clements (April 25, 1928 – August 16, 2005) was an American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler. Clements has been dubbed the Father of Hillbilly Jazz, an improvisational style that blends and borrows from swing, hot jazz, and ...

to play in his touring band, and his playing can be heard on Clement's Grammy-nominated ''Nashville Jam'' album. He performed and recorded with jazz violin pioneer

Joe Venuti Giuseppe "Joe" Venuti (September 16, 1903 – August 14, 1978) was an American jazz musician and pioneer jazz violinist. Considered the father of jazz violin, he pioneered the use of string instruments in jazz along with the guitarist Eddie La ...

and mandolinist

Jethro Burns Jethro is a male given name meaning "overflow". It is derived from the Hebrew word ''Yithrô''. People named Jethro * Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns (1920–1989), mandolin player in satirical country music duo Homer and Jethro * Jethro Franklin ( ...

. In 1991, Dowling released his first solo album, ''Beats Workin' '', featuring Clements. Dowling won a Grammy Award for his solo work on ''Henry Mancini: Pink Guitar''. He designed the El Trovador guitar for

National Reso-Phonic Guitars National Reso-Phonic Guitars is a manufacturer of resonator guitars and other resonator instruments including resonator mandolins, tenor instruments, and resonator ukuleles.A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

Songwriting

While in Nashville, Dowling has written songs that were recorded by artists such as

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...

Kathy Mattea Kathleen Alice Mattea (born June 21, 1959) is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, including four that re ...

Claire Lynch Claire Lynch (born February 20, 1954) is an American bluegrass musician, singer, songwriter, and producer. She is a three-time winner of the International Bluegrass Music Association's Female Vocalist of the Year honors. She is considered one of ...

Del McCoury Delano Floyd McCoury (born February 1, 1939) is an American bluegrass musician. As leader of the Del McCoury Band, he plays guitar and sings lead vocals along with his two sons, Ronnie McCoury and Rob McCoury, who play mandolin and banjo respec ...

and

George Fox George Fox (July 1624 – 13 January 1691) was an English Dissenter, who was a founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends. The son of a Leicestershire weaver, he lived in times of social upheaval and ...

. A recording of his song Backtrackin' by

The Nashville Bluegrass Band The Nashville Bluegrass Band is an American bluegrass music ensemble founded in 1984. The group's members first played together in 1984 as a backing band for Vernon Oxford and Minnie Pearl; each of the members was an established musician from t ...

was nominated Bluegrass Song of the Year in 1994 by the

International Bluegrass Music Association The International Bluegrass Music Association, or IBMA, is a trade association to promote bluegrass music. Formed in 1985, IBMA established its first headquarters in Owensboro, Kentucky. In 1988 they announced plans to create the International ...

Personal life

Dowling lives in Wyoming with his wife Jan. Dowling spends some of his free time as a guitar instructor where he also releases material on Homespun Tapes.

Discography

* ''Swamp Dog Blues'' (Strictly Country, 1995) * ''Beats Workin' '' (Strictly Country, 1996) * ''Live at the Cafe Carpe'' with

Randy Sabien Randy Sabien (; born September 26, 1956) is an American jazz violinist, composer, and music educator known for his live performances and numerous recordings, many of them on Flying Fish Records and Red House Records. At the age of 21 he founded ...

(Fiddlehead Music, 1996) * ''String Crazy'' (Wind River Guitar, 2000) * ''Two of a Kind'' with

Pat Donohue Patrick Donohue (born April 28, 1953) is an American Fingerstyle guitar, fingerstyle guitarist born in St. Paul, Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album, Grammy nominated, Walnut Valley Festival, Natio ...

(Solid Air, 2001) * ''Bottomlands'' (Solid Air, 2001) * ''Blue Fandango'' (Wind River Guitar, 2005) * '' Henry Mancini: Pink Guitar'' (2004) * ''The Blues Ain't News'' (Wind River Guitar, 2008) * ''Eclectricity'' with David Lange (Wind River Guitar, 2011) * ''Tracks'' (Wind River Guitar, 2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowling, Mike Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American male guitarists American blues guitarists American folk guitarists Fingerstyle guitarists Musicians from Wisconsin Songwriters from Wisconsin American male songwriters