David LaMotte

“...guitar-spanking open-tuning grooves as well as gentle folk-tinged pop. His lyrics range from insightful image-driven stories to equally insightful humor.”

- Washington Times

"...pushes the envelope with challenging lyrics and unusual tunings, but he also pays homage to folk tradition." - The Boston Globe

“charm, stories, humour, insightful songs, sweet voiceand dazzling guitar ability.”

- BBC Radio Belfast

“contemplative and intimate ...melodious folk pop imbuedwith a subtle joyous spirit.”

- Performing SongwriterMagazine

“a global citizen... touched hearts across the globe.”- The Hindu (India)

David LaMotte is an award-winning songwriter, speaker and writer. He has performed over 2500 concerts and released eleven full-length CDs of primarily original mu-sic, touring in forty-eight of the fifty states, as well as extensively in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The Boston Globe writes that his music “pushes the enve-lope with challenging lyrics and unusual tunings, but he also pays homage to folk tradition,” while BBC Radio Belfast lauds his “charm, stories, humour, insightful songs, sweet voice and dazzling guitar ability.”

Touring full-time for over two decades, LaMotte developed a large and loyal following around the world. His music has been honored with numerous awards and grants as well as artist sponsorships from Taylor Guitars and John Pearse Strings.

David’s music has been featured on dozens of artist compi-lations. Notably, his song Dark and Deep was included on Songs Inspired By Literature, Chapter One, a benefit CD to raise money for adult literacy. Other artists on that CD include Suzanne Vega, Aimee Mann and Bruce Springsteen.

Several independent films feature David’s music, and it has been heard on the Today Show and the Showtime television series This American Life.

LaMotte has appeared on stage with several of the musical heroes of his youth, including Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie and America, as well as prominent contemporary artists like Shawn Mullins, and his partners in the “Three Davids” concerts, David Wilcox and David Holt.

Known for inspiring songs and storytelling, David also tries to live out the ideas he sings about. In 2008, he suspended his music career to give his focus to his other vocational passion, peacemaking. As a recipient of the prestigious Rotary World Peace Fellowship, he earned a masters degree in International Studies, Peace and Con-flict Resolution at Brisbane, Australia’s University of Queensland. As part of that fellowship, he also spent three months in rural India working with a Gandhian sustainable development organization.

As the co-founder and director (as a volunteer) of PEG Partners, Inc. he works with schools schools and libraries in Guatemala to improve learning environments there, and

David LaMotte

because of his strong commitment to peacemaking, he has traveled in several of the world’s conflict zones, from Bosnia and Belfast to Hebron and Haiti, pro-moting intercultural understanding and seeking to learn from people on the front lines of peace work. He also serves as the Clerk (Chairperson) of the Nobel Peace Prize Nominating Task Group for the American Friends Service Committee.

LaMotte’s third book, Worldchanging 101: Challenging the Myth of Powerlessness, has been adopted by several col-leges and universities as a textbook. His previous book, White Flour, is an illustrated children’s book about non-violence, based on the true story of a Ku Klux Klan rally in 2007 that was met and transformed by a group calling itself the Coup Clutz Clowns. His first children’s book, S.S. Bathtub, is based on his award-winning song by the same name.

LaMotte lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina, with his wife and son. He is now turning his attention to a new CD project which will be produced by Tom Prasa-da-Rao. The recording will include a new collection of original songs and musical guests from around the world.