Phil Heywood is an American

fingerstyle Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of guitar picking, playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

player, singer and composer.

Biography

Raised in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, Heywood has been based in the

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

area since the mid-1980s. Heywood has performed as an opening act for

Leo Kottke Leo Kottke (born September 11, 1945) is an acoustic guitarist. He is known for a fingerpicking style that draws on blues, jazz, and folk music, and for syncopated, polyphonic melodies. He overcame a series of personal obstacles, including parti ...

, Norman Blake, Chris Smither and Greg Brown and has performed with

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music s ...

Tim Sparks Tim Sparks (born October 31, 1954) is an American acoustic guitar player, singer, arranger and composer. Life Raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he was given his first guitar when a bout of encephalitis kept him out of school for a year. T ...

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 ...

, and Peter Lang. He has also performed on such national venues as

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 ...

and won the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship at the

Walnut Valley Festival The Walnut Valley Festival is an acoustic music festival held annually in Winfield, Kansas, United States. The main genre of music is bluegrass, but a wide variety of other acoustic styles are represented. The festival is held on the Wednesday ...

Winfield, Kansas Winfield is a city and county seat of Cowley County, Kansas, United States. It is situated along the Walnut River in South Central Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 11,777. It is home to Southwestern College. Hi ...

, in 1986.

Discography

* 1990: ''Some Summer Day'' * 1996: ''Local Joe'' * 1997: ''Ye Olde Wooden Guitar Christmas'' (compilation with

and Dan Neale) * 2001: ''Circle Tour'' * 2003: ''Banks of the River'' * 2008: ''You Got to Move'' * 2014: ''Rollin' On''

References

External links

Official Phil Heywood website
1954 births Living people Fingerstyle guitarists 20th-century American guitarists {{US-guitarist-stub