Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

D.R. Auten

RIYL

Joe Pass, Pat Martino, Peter Sprague

Inception

San Diego , 1970

Current Status

D.R. Auten is also part of the Gas Lamp Jazz Band.

Influences

Joe Pass, Pat Martino, Peter Sprague

Discography

Sponsored

Anyone who loves great guitar music should repeat his name – chant it if necessary – until it comes naturally to the mind and lips whenever talk turns to "originality" and "innovation." Auten is that rare guitarist who contributes new forms of expression to the guitar language and who forces his audience to listen to this ancient art form in a new way.

Fueled by a restless and ambitious artistry, Auten's career is gaining that certain momentum reserved for players of destiny. Although he has pursued the "guitar muse" since childhood and boasts an extensive and impressive portfolio of professional credits, it is only in the last couple of years that Auten's playing has begun to tap the public consciousness.

Like an old-style traveling preacher, Auten has won converts a handful at a time, both with his bold, resourceful playing and with original compositions that form a seamless quilt of musical idioms. Blues, R&B, country, folk, pop, classical, jazz, Celtic, and Asian modes – Auten steeps them all in Southern comfort and stitches them together with the Kentucky-fried pickin' he learned from members of his very musical clan.

"My family is from Russellville, Kentucky. My grandpa was known for his 'thump' style of guitar playing, but he never recorded anything. Each of my uncles inspired me in a different way. My Uncle Sam lost his thumb when he was a little boy, so he had a very specific influence on my style. 'Donnie,' he'd say, 'you have a thumb – use it!' My Uncle Donald left his guitar at my house so that I'd have something to practice on. My Uncle Ray was a lead guitarist, and he taught me some cool licks."

Skills learned at home formed the foundation of a talent that young Auten further developed as an electric and acoustic guitarist and banjo player in several famous and infamous rock, pop, and country bands of the '60s and '70s. Before long, he was writing and recording new music and performing as a solo act in concert halls, clubs, and coffeehouses all over San Diego. People began to notice, and word of Auten's talent began to spread, attracting the attention of national magazines in the process. Auten, apparently, had found his niche.

"I'd always been one among many, playing fills and background stuff as a member of a band. But when I started performing solo, I turned a lot of heads in a way I'd never done before, so I stayed with it. After all these years, I'm finally doing exactly what I need to do. Solo guitar is a perfect medium for my self-expression and a great outlet for all this creative energy."

As if his guitar playing weren't enough for one human being, Auten also is an exceptional singer. Indeed, fans of his guitar work are blown away when they hear his voice. He seems to blend the emotional delivery and sensitive phrasing of Kenny Loggins with the dulcet Dixie tenor of Vince Gill.

D.R. Auten is a complete package: a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter-composer, performer, and recording artist whose spark of originality is beginning to set some brush fires in the music world. Someday soon, everyone will be feeling the heat.

-- Website

Sponsored

Upcoming Local Shows

No shows scheduled

Post a show View show history
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader