Richard Dunnagan

My collection here is mostly complete. I have all the songs listed in a random order and also organized into albums, described below. They are all available for sale individually or as an album. You will get a different impression if you listen to a complete album vs. random samplings from the entire list. I hope you enjoy. Feel free to ask questions or make comments. I left my bio below if you want to learn about my musical background. I Never Learn is a collection of songs written from the late 80s to the late 90s. During this time I divorced, married and divorced again. These songs were written as my therapy for all I was going through. Most were recorded on a 4 track tape system using a keyboard for everything but guitar. Love Songs were written in the early 2000s. I was single, dating, and trying to find my place again in the world of romance. I had made the leap to digital recording and I switched up my musical styles to reflect some of my strongest current influences. Because of You is a group of songs, mostly written in 2010, as I made some major logistical transitions in life and used my actual experiences to dream about what I hoped my future romantic life would include. These songs are all simple guitar and voice. Bars Songs are from two years of productions by the Cary Playwright Forum. Their members wrote, produced and performed the short plays in a bar. I was tasked with the role of the minstrel who sang a short song to set the stage for the coming play. The first year was held at Mac's Tavern in Cary, and the second year at Fortnight Brewery, also in Cary. I wrote each song after studying the scripts. I wanted to hint to the audience what to expect without giving away the plot. My songwriting style is meant to weave the lyrics, they music and the instrumentation together to present the feeling and meaning of the song. Musicians will notice this, but non-musicians should feel it. On all these songs, I am the sole performer. Music came naturally to Richard, who as a boy sang in the adult choir at his church, learning to sing alto parts before his voice changed to the baritone it is today. He began playing guitar at age 12, in order to keep up with an older friend who had just taken up the instrument. Even a broken right arm a month after he began could not deter his interest in learning to play and he immediately started to learn how to play chords and songs on an old Silvertone acoustic, and a few years later picked up some finger picking techniques, learning the basics for three finger double picking from a musician who was spending the summer playing in the area. Upon reaching high school, and making the switch from acoustic to electric, Richard spent the next four years as a rhythm guitar player and backup vocalist in several high school dance bands, when live music for school dances was the norm. As the rhythm guitarist, it was Richard’s responsibility to pick out the chords and develop the harmonies for the songs the band wanted to play, and he would spend hours in front of the stereo to make sure he got the right chords and inversions for every song, and his interest in studying and understanding music theory started to develop. At the end of high school, and the theft of his electric guitar, Richard returned to his acoustic roots, and played with a folk group for three summers at the beach, learning both advanced guitar and vocal techniques from music majors and very accomplished and talented musicians. This exposure to such a high level of musical sophistication influenced his decision to declare music as his major where he went on to study voice for four years and receive a Bachelor of Music Education degree. He also sang in the Carolina Choir while at Chapel Hill, under the renowned Dr. Lara Hoggard, and studied graduate level choral conducting. When he arrived at UNC in the beginning of his freshman year, with a Martin D-35, his new college friends asked him to sing and play for them, but having been a rhythm guitarist and mostly the backup singer in all the bands and groups where he had performed, he had few songs that he could sing solo, and none that his new college friends wanted to hear, so he began an intensive effort to learn new material, and in the remainder of that year, learned nearly every song that James Taylor did at that time, closely matching the guitar riffs and picking style that made Taylor so famous, and that influence remains in Richard’s guitar playing today. During these early college years, he teamed up with a group of talented musicians to form an acoustic quartet of two guitars, flute or sax, and bass, with intensive vocal harmonies. After college, Richard joined a light rock band that toured around coffee houses in the state and enjoyed the association with some exceptionally talented musicians. Once Richard and his wife began their family, the inability to freely travel with bands, or commit to every weekend for choirs lead to a pause in his previously active level of public performances. Over the next years, a few performances and reunions kept Richard playing, but it was in the early 90s when his musical direction began to turn a corner and point him in his current direction. If you like what you hear or if you want to ask questions drop a note. Tell your friends to listen and if you sign up as a fan, we will keep you informed as to any new recordings or performances.

Chapel Hill, NC