Doug Van Gundy - Biographical Information

Growing up in Elkins, West Virginia, Doug was exposed to a wide range of music through the Augusta Heritage Center at Davis and Elkins College. He abandoned playing rock and roll in 1993 to study fiddle with the late Mose Coffman of Greenbrier County, West Virginia through the National Endowment for the Humanities folk arts apprenticeship program of the Augusta Heritage Center. Since that time Doug has played throughout the northeast and upper Midwest with Dwight Diller, Melvin Wine, and in The Yahoes, with Paul Gartner and Pam Lund. Currently, Doug performs as a solo act and with Paul Gartner in the duo Born Old.

Doug's playing is influenced by Mr. Coffman, the Hammons Family and Central-West Virginia fiddlers Wilson Douglas, Ward Jarvis and French Carpenter, and focuses on the fiddle styles and repertoire particular to east-central West Virginia. He has taught through the Augusta Heritage Workshops on numerous occasions as well as at other workshops in New Hampshire, Michigan, Massachusetts, New York and Canada. Doug has two recordings currently available, Born Old with banjo player Paul Gartner, and Two Far Gone with fellow fiddler Jake Krack. Doug's fiddling can also be heard on albums by Dwight Diller, Peter Kosky and Glen Simpson. His music has also been featured on Swedish public television, a commercial for ABC-TV, the Outdoor Life Network, and The Crook & Chase Show on the Nashville Network. He has performed at The Kennedy Center, The Oldsongs Festival, Hostos Community College of NYU in The Bronx, The Appalachian String Band Festival at Clifftop, WV and The Calliope Emerging Legends Concert Series in Pittsburgh, PA, among others.

Doug and his wife Melissa live in Elkins, West Virginia.