If you attended the recent “Meet the Doggetts” event at Jammin’ Java, you may have noticed some filming and interviewing going on. The subject was “40 Ways the Internet has Changed our World,” and the focus was on the incredible changes it has brought to the way popular music is produced, promoted, and enjoyed by the masses.

With two generations of Doggetts on stage that night, the producers wanted to contrast the old (I started my recording career in an analog studio in Zimbabwe at the dawn of the Internet age) with the new (my son Brad got his start posting YouTube videos that have since logged over ten million views worldwide). Here’s a link to the interview, which will also give you a flavor of the concert in case you missed it. I hope you find the clip interesting and informative.

Rosser Clark wanted to play guitar from the time he was three years old, when his older sisters took him to see the Beatles movie, “A Hard Day’s Night.” Soon after, he used his allowance money to begin buying Beatles singles. In college, he studied jazz and classical guitar, along with classical composition. Through it all, he continued to play blues, rock and roll, and bluegrass. For more than ten years, Rosser has played with the popular Falls Church based Andrew Acosta and the New Old-Time String Band, performing hundreds of concerts, including multiple appearances at the Washington Folk Festival, and a live set on WAMU. He has also been called on for regular work as a session musician over the years, including major contributions on Tony Doggett’s two most recent albums, Please Don’t Send Me To Zaire and A Moment In Time.  Rosser is happy to have the chance to crank up his electric guitar on stage with the Tony Doggett Band.  His gear includes a 1986 Fender Stratocaster and a newer Custom Shop Telecaster, which he plays through a 1967 “Blackface” Fender Deluxe Reverb. Rosser regularly brings down the house with amazing guitar solos, either alone or in tandem with other musicians on stage.  In recognition of his prowess, Tony has taken to calling him “Shredder.”

So grateful to the over 160 friends, colleagues, family members, and fans who packed Jammin’ Java in Vienna, VA on  January 6 for the Meet the Doggetts event organized in cooperation with Eric Townsend of Splashkit (see photos below courtesy of Linda Rozett at FirstWord Strategies). We are still glowing from the outrageous success of  this quadruple-header concert, which featured not only the Tony Doggett Band–Dave Olson, Charlie Hastings, Rossser Clark, Chuck Haskins, Frank Amodeo, and me–but also my sons Clinton, Ben, and Brad and their respective musical collaborators Andrew Fishbein, Marco Sonevystky, Steve Boone, and Adam Johnston. Everyone put in an amazing performance, not least  my wife Anne, who tore the place up with a gutsy, spot-on rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “Love Me Like A Man.” Daughter Elizabeth also added her sweet voice for the closing number, “The Banks of the Ohio.” Continue reading …

This is going to be awesome. In collaboration with Eric S. Townsend of SplashKit, I’ll bring my band and the musical acts of my three talented sons (Clinton, Ben, and Brad) to Jammin’ Java on Wednesday, January 6. In case you don’t know them already, Brad is a teen heartthrob, with several music videos netting close to a million views on YouTube. Ben is also a singer-songwriter who leads the music ministry at Christ Our Shepherd Church in DC and has a solo album coming out shortly. Clinton, who toured to San Francisco and back a few summers ago with his band “More Humans,” is currently  promoting their new Enamel Records EP. And of course you already know my story…. Mark your calendars for January 6!

Recently, we celebrated the first anniversary of the release of my last album A Moment in Time.  If you’re hooked up to a pair of decent speakers, then give the sampler here a listen!

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Purchase A Moment in Time and two other records as a package deal for the low price of $30 – a savings of 14%!

Dave Olson began playing drums when he was ten. Growing up with other musicians in his family, he played all the time. Dave has performed with numerous bands over the years but found a home when he and bandmate Tom Erbland formed the Washington DC R&B sensation “Hey Norton,” for whom Dave has been playing these past 16 years. He has also recorded with various DC based musicians, mostly with Tony Doggett on his new release, “A Moment in Time.” Dave says, “I love playing different kinds of music and working with musicians that have original material. It allows me to stretch my creative side and even sometimes push me beyond what I think I am capable of.” Dave is an accountant by day, has a wife and two beautiful girls and is a fitness fanatic, but music is what drives his soul.

Yesterday I was pleased to help USAID kick off its annual charity drive, known government-wide as the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), by playing a song I wrote some years ago based on their slogan, “It All Comes Back To You.”  The song is about a guy who meets an old friend on the street and learns that long ago, without realizing it, he had done something to help turn his friend’s life around. Since its inception in the early seventies, CFC has raised some $6 billion from Federal employees for a myriad of good causes. Check them out, and keep in mind that everything you give comes back to you one way or another.

Had a great gig at Bangkok Blues last Friday, August 28. The band was in rare form, and the crowd was in a dancing mood. I also did an acoustic set that featured a new song written for a dear and recently departed friend, Valentina Mengjesi. Bangkok Blues has great sound and lighting, which makes it very enjoyable on stage and helps us perform at our best. We are getting tighter all the time and are now in rehearsal for our October 17 gig – also at Bangkok Blues – that will feature two brand new originals, A Little Bit More and Meant to Be. Hope to see you there!

Had a great rehearsal with the band last night. We’ve begun to add new material to the setlist, in the form of some of my older original songs as well as the band’s take on some well-known hits. We hope to be able to roll out these additional tunes during our next concert. A hint here – we’ve been inspired by the newly-remastered Beatles’ recordings!

Recently returned from a family reunion in the south of France, where my parents retired about 15 years ago. We have a tradition of having bi-annual reunions in fun places – Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, and Sardinia to date – but this time we decided to have it at the homestead. It was an amazing experience but, sadly, given my parents’ advancing years, one that will not likely be repeated in this lifetime. We are a large and close-knit family.