kevin dooley

Hailing from Dayton Ohio, Kevin grew up in southern Michigan where he had the pleasure of long visits with his grandfather. An inspirational man, Kevin watched as he made instruments, played fiddle, piano and the musical saw. These long afternoons planted the seeds of music in Kevin’s soul.

He went on to become a seasoned veteran of the road with a four-decade career. Kevin is an acoustic guitarist and singer, performing his own songs and those of friends and those he admires to audiences all over the US and UK.

His latest release, “band o gypsys”, features ten original songs tracked old style to tape at home in the treehouse and mixed and mastered by the ever-subtle James Tuttle. This collection of songs are personal stories about family, love of grandparents, and the search for what is really important. Though mostly retired from the road and gigging, he is still playing fun local gatherings and small festivals. He is teaching and mentoring more these days and will be recording again this fall.

Kevin’s “treehouse” CD went up to #52 on The US Folk Charts and did extremely well on the UK Roots charts spending time in the top 10 in several countries. He is a past winner of The Crossroads Acoustic Blues Award at The Telluride Blues Festival and his song Willoughby won a prestigious award in Hollywood from the Academy of Music. He has played many festival main stages; Rocky Mountain Folks, Yellowstone Music, Telluride Blues, and Memphis in May, to name a few. Opening shows for legends like Leon Russell, Bo Diddley, Pine Top Perkins, John Gorka and Chris Smither, Kevin’s broad experience has brought the joy of music to a wide variety of settings from busking on the streets of America and Europe, to volunteering with the hospice community.