Don Conoscenti

Don Conoscenti (born September 13, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist originally from Chicago, Illinois.

He started his musical career in middle school playing drums, before receiving a guitar as a gift from a cousin for his 8th grade graduation.

Vermont in the 1970s was a hotbed of writers, actors, thinkers, musicians, much like Greenwich Village in the 1960s.

Conoscenti befriended writer David Mamet, and also worked with members of the politically active Bread and Puppet Theater.

This was on the heels of Dass's seminal book Be Here Now, published in 1971.

That summer culminated in a spiritual awakening that set Conoscenti on his lifelong spiritual path.

In late 1971 Conoscenti hitchhiked to California where he continued to write songs and play guitar.

Don's spiritual training continued in a San Jose barrio where he fasted, meditated, and widened his cultural horizons.

He bought his first acoustic guitar for $50 in 1974 in Boulder, Colorado at a yard sale, and began writing songs and performing in public.

A self-taught musician, Conoscenti said he learned to play guitar by watching and listening to other musicians.

Conoscenti began to experiment with psychedelics, and spent many hours in the meditation hall of the Naropa Institute in Boulder during the summer that Ram Dass was doing a residency there.

In 1975 Conoscenti returned to Chicago where he started to play hootenannies at the Earl of Old Town, and at Steve Goodman's folk club Somebody Else's Troubles.

Conoscenti spent extensive time at these clubs with Goodman and John Prine, who had just been signed by record label Stax.

Conoscenti left Chicago again and traveled extensively throughout the country, absorbing different musical styles at each stop.

In 1976, Conoscenti formed his first rock band while working behind the counter at the original Ben & Jerry's in Vermont.

Conoscenti first learned the blues at after-hours jam sessions with founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.

He also got his first paying gigs as a singer-songwriter and as a sideman, and experienced his first recording sessions.

Late in 1976, Conoscenti moved to Stowe, Vermont and worked in the kitchen of the Lodge at Mt. Mansfield.

He was mentored in the blues by wine steward Arnold Carbone who went on to become Director of Research & Development for Ben & Jerry's.

Conoscenti and Carbone also formed a blues duo called Chicago Don and Little Arnold.

In 1978, Conoscenti formed a band called Zucchini Brothers, with music that was original and at times theatrical.

For most of the late 1980s, Conoscenti did not play or perform.

He lived a solitary life in California, Martha's Vineyard, and Colorado, and occupied himself with various spiritual pursuits.

In 1991 Conoscenti moved to Atlanta to revisit acoustic music.

He first played at The Freight Room in Decatur, GA, which was one of the favored places to play acoustic music in the Atlanta area at the time, along with the Trackside Tavern.

The Trackside Tavern was managed by Eddie Owens, who went on to open Eddie's Attic in Decatur in 1992.

During his years in Atlanta, he became friends with David Wilcox.

Wilcox along with Boston-based musician, Jim Infantino, introduced Conoscenti to the use of partial capos.

Conoscenti's unique style developed while "trying to be percussive, trying to be fat, trying to cover the low end, trying to be melodic and rhythmic. I missed the harmonies so I put the harmonies on the instrument – and it's really fun for me to play the guitar."

The Atlanta acoustic music scene at the time was split between the Trackside and The Freight Room.

Conoscenti has been a regular at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival since its inception in 1998.

He has released nine CDs to date, all but one on his Cogtone label.

Conoscenti grew up in the Chicago area and first played drums in garage bands and flute in his high school symphony band.

His musical influences were diverse while at home he heard his mother's big band music while his father listened to the music of Frank Sinatra, Vic Damone, and Tony Bennett.

Conoscenti also listened to Chicago radio station WLS-FM which played a lot of Detroit "Motown" music.

Following his 1999 performance at the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress added a collection of Conoscenti's work to their folk revivalist archives.

Conoscenti became known for his unique use of multiple and partial capos on the acoustic guitar, releasing an instructional video Capo Abuse and Guitar Techniques in 2001.

He has played with many notable musicians, including Kristian Bush, David Wilcox, Ellis Paul, John Mayer, Nils Lofgren, Robert Mirabal, Bill Miller (musician), and The Indigo Girls, and he produced Dave Nachmanoff.

Conoscenti was a winner of the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest Songwriting Competition and was a National Academy of Songwriters’ Acoustic Artist of the Year finalist.

He has performed twice on the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center.