Don Ross

Donald James Ross (born November 19, 1960) is a Canadian fingerstyle guitarist.

After receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music in 1983, he studied philosophy at St. Hyacinth College and Seminary in Granby, Massachusetts while living at San Damiano Friary in Holyoke, Massachusetts and then started his novitiate for the Canadian custody of the Conventual Franciscans of Immaculate Conception Province at St. Francis Friary in Staten Island, NY.

He decided to leave that pursuit and become a musician.

In 1986 Ross produced and published his first album, Kehewin, on cassette, and became a full-time musician.

He performed as a duo with his late wife, singer Kelly McGowan, in 1986 and 1987, and then in a trio called Harbord Trio with her and violinist the late Oliver Schroer.

At the same time he was member of a New Age jazz quartet called Eye Music.

In 1987 some of his compositions were played by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra.

He was the first person to win the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship twice (1988 and 1996).

His album Huron Street reached the top ten on the Billboard New-age chart.

Ross was born in Montreal, Quebec to a Scottish immigrant father and a Mi'kmaq mother.

He is a member of the Millbrook First Nation.

He studied composition at the music department of York University in Toronto with David Mott, James Tenney and Phil Werren.

His first place win, after two previous attempts, in the 1988 American Walnut Valley Festival earned him a contract with Duke Street Records, Toronto, where he published his next two albums, 1989's Bearing Straight and 1990's Don Ross.

Since then he has released several mostly instrumental CDs for Duke Street, Columbia Records and Narada Records, though some of them feature him as a singer.

He published three instructional videos, several single transcriptions and a book with nine of his pieces, and worked with the magazine Canadian Musician.

He composed music for several theatre productions in Toronto dealing with First Nations life in Canada, such as The Ecstasy of Rita Joe (York University, 1989), Dreaming Beauty (Inner Stage Theatre, 1990) and Big Buck City (Cahoots Theatre, 1991).

He has also composed music for the CBC radio serial Dead Dog Café.

At the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals he won a prize with his late wife Kelly, and in 1996 he won first prize for the second time at the Walnut Valley Festival.

Starting in 1997 he guided the Don Ross Cannington Guitar Weekend, a guitar workshop.

More recently he has also led the workshop in Prince Edward Island and in Port Hope, Ontario.

In 2001 his first wife Kelly McGowan died, and Ross was a single father for four years.

In 2005 he married Brooke Miller, a singer-songwriter from Prince Edward Island.

Don Ross was the first artist to sign with indie record label Candyrat Records, in 2005.

The label's roster has included Andy McKee, Nicholas Barron, Antoine Dufour, The Reign of Kindo, and Don's wife Brooke Miller.

Ross has done three tours with the Men of Steel guitar group, the last of which was mounted in 2006.

The band is a mix of international members including bluegrass maestro Dan Crary, acoustic guitarist Beppe Gambetta, and Celtic folk guitarist Tony McManus.

Ross performs most of his concerts solo, but has also regularly performed with Andy McKee, Brooke Miller, and bassist Jordan O'Connor.

He also has a quartet that performs his more jazz and funk based material, Called Don Ross Louder Than Usual, featuring Andrew Craig on keyboards, Marito Marques on drums and Jordan O'Connor on bass.

In 2010–2011 Ross was a Dalhousie University professor teaching history of guitar and techniques, while still travelling extensively for music.

He did not renew his contract for the following year due to high demand for concert appearances around the world.

In 2012, Ross moved back to his hometown of Montreal, Quebec.

He and Brooke also lived for several years in Toronto, Ontario and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Ross is currently residing near Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Don studied for a Master of Arts degree online in Orchestration through the University of Chichester and ThinkSpace Education, graduating in 2021.

He has spent much of the time since composing original orchestrations for video games, film, and television.

Also in 2021, Don won the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts, administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.

In 2023 Don released his first solo album in six years, a mixture of solo and collaborative music entitled WATER.

The album features collaborations with Bruce Cockburn, Brooke Miller, Michael Manring, The Atlantic String Machine, Sean Hall and the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ross's daughter is writer Tara McGowan-Ross.

Ross's music borrows from blues, jazz, folk and classical music creating a style that he describes as "heavy wood".