Frank Delaney

PO Box 31522

Spokane, Wa 99223-1522

frank@mtamicro.com

(509) 624-7230 (509) 534-2901

Singer/Songwriter & Guitar Player - Blues, Folk, Country, Pop, Gospel, Original

Guitars: 6 String, 12 String, Bottleneck Steel Guitar, Guitar Banjo, Electric

MUSIC BACKGROUND & FOLK MUSIC RESEARCH:

1945 - Born Manhattan, New York. Father was a college professor/saxophone player

Mother - piano player.

1955-57 - Drummer Portland Sabres Drum & Bugle Corps Portland, Maine

1959-63 - Drummer Miscellaneous garage & high school bands California & Washington

1963 - Drummer U.S. Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, IL ( Bootcamp Music Company )

1963-65 - Drummer U.S. Naval Communications Center, Pensacola, FL

Played in 2 Mardi Gras & Mummers Parades - New Orleans, LA

I was stationed in Pensacola, Fl. in 1963-65 in the Navy. I was in the Navy Base band and we went to 2 Mardi Gras parades and many other regional festivals. For the first time I heard true traditional American folk music and blues in my travels. This was a period when many of the old great blues and folk musicians who had recorded back in the 1920's were being rediscovered and were playing for the first time in decades at festivals like the 1963 Newport Blues Festival. I fell in love with this music and wanted to play it.

I had been a drummer since I was a boy, and this music inspired me to learn to learn guitar in my twenties. My first guitar was a cheap classical guitar my Mother gave me which she had bought for a Summer Music Camp for teachers and decided she was never going to really play. I learned on that, and then bought a 12 String Takamine steel string guitar, because I couldn't make the chords on a skinny 6 string. Later I took 6 strings off the 12 string guitar to get a bluesier sound, and finally bought a Takamine 6 string guitar. A friend of mine who was an instrument maker found an old guitar in a dump and made it into a bottleneck guitar for me, with an action so high I could put my fingers under the strings on any fret.

Living in Spokane, Washington, nobody around here was into the blues. Everyone played country or bluegrass with flatpicks. I taught myself fingerpicking from books and listening to records, and then taught myself the styles of blues players I really loved, like Mississippi John Hurt, Mance Lipscomb, Lighting Hopkins, and the great bottleneck players like Mississippi Fred McDowell. My interest in Blues eventually led to me producing a Blues Show for the local Public Radio Station, KPBX FM 91.1, The Backwater Blues Show 1982-87, and during that time I was able to interview many performers as they passed though town and expand my knowledge of Blues and Folk Music.

I have done research on the origin and meaning of American Folkblues songs for over 25 years.

Conducted field recordings of folk performers in the Pacific Northwest.

Studied in-depth the guitar styles and lives of Mississippi John Hurt; Mance Lipscomb; Lightning Hopkins, Fred McDowell. Biography of Mississippi John Hurt in progress.

Field research on Mississippi John Hurt, July 2006, interviews with relatives, and family members. Played at his Blues and Gospel Festival and produced a DVD of my journey.

COFFEEHOUSES/CLUBS:

The Cornerstone Coffeehouse - WSU Pullman, WA

The Coffee Tree - Spokane, WA

The Donkey Jaw - Sandpoint, ID

Cafe Libre - Moscow, ID

The Tin Ear - Spokane, WA

Saturday Night at Grandma's Cafe - Bonners Ferry, ID

Second Street Pizza - Bonners Ferry, ID

Red Lion Tavern - Spokane, WA

Bugattis - Sandpoint, ID

The Hydra - Sandpoint, ID

Jimmy D's Wine Cellar - Coeur D'Alene, ID

Community Coffeehouse - Leavenworth, WA

Winesteinz - Spokane, Wa

Flowery Trail Coffeehouse - Chewelah, Wa

Mother Goose Progressive Coffeehouse - Spokane, Wa

FESTIVALS:

Expo 1974 Folklife Performer - Spokane, Wa

Earth Day Festivals - Spokane, Wa

Folklife 1984 Spokane, Wa

Spokane Folklore Society Concerts – 1971 – Present Spokane, Wa

Seattle Folklife Festival 1987 - Invited Performer - Seattle, Wa

SFS Mainstreet USA Festivals

Pinesong - Spokane, Wa

Columbia Folk Festival - Spokane, Wa

Ritzville/Spirit Lake Blues Festivals

Spangle American Music festival – 2000-04

Spokane Folklore Festival 2001 - "The Parchmen"

Mississippi John Hurt Blues & Gospel Festival 2006 Avalon, MS

CO-FOUNDER: Spokane Songwriters Association

INSTRUCTIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Finger-style Folk/Blues private instructor - 20 years

Folk Guitar Teacher - WSU Pullman Community Free University - 2 years

Folk Guitar Teacher - Spokane Free University

Author - "American Folkblues Guitar Style" - Instruction Book

Instructor - Spokane Parks & Recreation Dept – 20 years

"The Early Bluesmen", "Heroes of the Blues", "How to play Country-Blues Acoustic Guitar",

"Fingerstyle Folk Guitar", "Honky Tonk uitar", "Robert Johnson - Blues Phantom", “Mississippi John Hurt”.

Instructor - Country Blues Guitar Workshops, Mississippi John Hurt Guitar Workshops.

RADIO PRODUCTION:

Producer: "The Backwater Blues Show" - KPBX FM 91.1 Spokane Public Radio

National Public Radio Affiliate - 1981 to 1988

"The Backwater Pond" - a monthly live music special

"The Early Bluesman Series" - featuring the greats of country blues

“Mississippi John Hurt” NPR Special 2007 in Production

Interviews/Specials with Elizabeth Cotten, Dave Van Ronk, John Fahey; many others

JOURNALISM:

Wrote a blues column for the Victory Review; a Seattle/Tacoma area Folk Magazine, 1988 - 90. Column was entitled "Backwater Blues - News from the Backwater Country".

RESIDENT MUSICIAN - The Spokane Marketplace

WEBMASTER – Mississippi John Hurt Museum www.msjohnhurtmuseum.com