Mike Dowling

"I don"t play guitar when Dowling's in the band. You don"t take the game warden fishing." -Jethro Burns

Short Bio

When the late, great Vassar Clements heard Mike Dowling play guitar back in 1975 he did the sensible thing. He hired him. Mike was the guitarist in Vasssar's first touring band and can be heard on Clements' Grammy-nominated Nashville Jam. Clements called him simply, "One of the finest guitarists there is, anywhere." Before embarking on a solo performance and teaching career, the Wisconsin native also worked and recorded with music legends Jethro Burns and Joe Venuti in Chicago, and studied briefly with session great George Barnes in San Francisco. In1995, after years in various ensembles and a successful stint as a Nashville songwriter he launched a solo performance career and with the release of Swamp Dog Blues began to headline at concerts and festivals throughout the world. Soon after, Mike packed up his guitars and his fishing gear and moved from Nashville, Tennessee to a little mountain town in northwest Wyoming where he and his wife opened Wind River Guitar, a unique residency school for private master instruction. He's released eight critically acclaimed albums on his Wind River Guitar label and two more for Solid Air Records. David Chamberlain, host of "Sagebrush Boogie", WRFG FM, Atlantic called his most recent CD, Tracks, "One of the best recordings I have ever heard." Mike shares a Grammy for his contribution to Pink Guitar, a collaborative compilation of Henry Mancini tunes arranged and performed by twelve of the country's top acoustic guitarists. Pink Guitar, produced by Solid Air Records, was voted Pop Instrumental Album of the Year in 2005.

Mike currently lives near St. Paul, Minnesota where he continues to maintain a busy schedule, teaching, composing, performing - and fly fishing.