Doug Cox with Ramkumar Visha and Salil

Doug Cox has carved-out a diverse career as a recording artist and touring musician. And this week, he will be gracing Vancouver with his melodious magic. The Vancouver Island  composer, multi-instrumentalist and music programmer has played festivals, clubs, camps and concert halls from Seldovia, Alaska to the Baseball Hall of Fame to the Sore Fingers Camp in England.

Cox was the first Canadian Dobro player to be invited to perform at ‘Dobrofest’ in Slovakia and was the first Dobro player to be a featured player at the Montreal Jazz Festival (with Todd Butler).

He has worked as a sideman and frontman with Canadian Bluesman Ken Hamm, with beloved west coast group Travels With Charley, in duos with Todd Butler and Sam Hurrie, with American songwriter Chuck Brodsky, the late British Blues Icon Long John Baldry and guitar string-bender Amos Garrett among many others.

The Canadian Folk Music Bulletin says “Doug Cox’s instrumental competence and creativity promise to open up new territory for listeners who accompany him along his career’s unconventional trail.” The World Next Door Festival says: “Cox is a musician’s musician. Widely recognized for his incredible technique and mastery of a wide variety of roots music   . . . a must see for guitar players and aficionados.”

Cox’s latest tours included the ‘New Voices in Slide Guitar’ tour with Steven Dawson, Ivan Rosenberg and Rachelle Van Zanten as well as the ‘Strung’ tour with fiddler April Verch and guitarist Tony McManus and a European tour with Sam Hurrie. Cox’s latest release, Blues From the Forbidden Plateau, is a live collaboration with Sam Hurrie.

He also released Slide To Freedom in 2007, a groundbreaking fusion recording mixing Blues with Classical Indian Music. The CD is a collaboration with India’s Salil Bhatt, Ramkumar Mishra and special guest, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.

Cox is set to perform with Salil and Mishra in a concert in to be held in Vancouver .
Salil represents the tenth generation of the famous Bhatt lineage, where music has been flowing for more than five-hundered years. Salil is the son of the legendary slide player and India’s Grammy Award winner Padmashree Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.

The elder Bhatt is the creator of the Mohan Veena, a revolutionary instrument which has been hailed as a discovery in the Indian classical music scenario.Salil has been mastering the Mohan Veena for more than twenty years. He is the foremost disciple of Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and one of the youngest and most promising exponents of the Mohan Veena. Salil with his soulful and vibrant music is receiving accolades from the listeners and the press alike.

On April 10 at 8 p.m., a show entitled Slide Guitar Masters from Canada and India will feature Cox & Salil at St. James Hall, Vancouver with Mishra on Tablas percussion. Concert tickets are available online at www.vtix.com. Visit www.dougcox.org and www.salilbhatt.com for more details.