DON CONOSCENTI, THE CROWD FAVORITE AT ROCKY MT. By David Schultz For the Transcript Oklahoma singer/songwriter Don Conoscenti is still riding high after winning the New Folk competition at the Rocky Mountain Folk Festival this summer. Hundreds of singer/songwriters applied for the opportunity to be one of the ten who performed on stage. The winner would be awarded a custom Breedlove guitar and the opening slot at the 1999 festival. Given time for only two songs, most artists pulled out all the stops in order to be selected the top artist. Needless to say, Conoscenti was a little nervous. Conoscenti's friends convinced him to tone down his usually intense performance. "I'm not rocking out," Conoscenti would later say from stage to the thousands of concert-goers. The strategy worked as he would win top honors at arguably the most prestigious festival of the year. Instead of capitalizing on his success, Conoscenti went out on the road to play electric guitar in support of his friend and Oklahoma-favorite Ellis Paul. Having played on Paul's new album, Translucent Soul, the opportunity for them to play together is rare. "That's the kind of guy Don is, eschewing his own success to help out a friend," says local promoter Everett Moran. Earlier this summer, Don could also be found touring with folk veteran Tom Paxton, including Paxton's performance at the Woody Guthrie Free Folk Festival in Okemah. Conoscenti finally returns home to play at the venerated OKC music venue, the Blue Door, on Friday night, October 30. Touring in support of his recent live album, One for the Road, featuring his old friend and violinist David Ragsdale, formerly of the band Kansas. The show is sure to feature crowd-pleasers such as "The Great Divide", about his constant travels while on tour (400,000 miles on his truck named Sarah and stilll going), and "Red Man Sky", a song inspired by Conoscenti's rock climbing trips to the Wichita Mountains. At his last show at the Blue Door in June, Conoscenti won over the small, but rapt audience with his virtuosic guitar playing, passionate tenor voice, and thought-provoking lyrics. On his own Cogtone label, Conoscenti has released four critically acclaimed CDs, featuring guest vocals by Emily Saliers (Indigo Girls), David Wilcox, Ellis Paul, Pierce Pettis, Kristen Hall, and many others. His 1997 release was named, tongue placed firmly in cheek, My Brilliant Masterpiece. Performing Songwriter magazine exclaimed, "Don Conoscenti is to the folk-acoustic world what Prince is to the pop-funk world. Both play a myriad of instruments and both just seem to be endless wellsprings of talent and songs. One of acoustic music's best just got better. . . . If 'Masterpiece' isn't just that, it's pretty damn close." Conoscenti's show commences at 8 pm on Friday October 30 at the Blue Door, 2805 N McKinley in Oklahoma City. Call 524-0738 for further information. -------------------------- More about Don Conoscenti including song clips can be found at his web sites: http://www.doncon.com or http://www.songs.com/donc. His CDs can be ordered from 1-800-BUY-MY-CD
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