"Dakota" Dave Hull (born April 19, 1950, in

Fargo, North Dakota Fargo is the List of cities in North Dakota, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County, North Dakota, Cass County. The population was 125,990 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, which was e ...

, United States) is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist who plays in a variety of styles: blues, gospel, ragtime, and folk music. He is also a recognized music historian and published one book, 2012's ''Ragtime Guitar in the Classic American Style''.

Musical career

Hull was born in

, which led to his nickname "Dakota Dave". He has long been a fixture of the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

music scene in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. He has toured the world playing solo

fingerstyle Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with a single plect ...

guitar in multiple genres including American

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

, and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

. He hosted the radio show ''The Dakota Dave Hull Show'' on

KFAI KFAI (90.3 FM) is a noncommercial community radio station located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, broadcasting to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The station broadcasts programming for many of the diverse ethnic groups of the region, inc ...

radio in Minneapolis for 20 years and was a frequent performer on ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' was a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

''. Hull has engineered, produced and performed with many artists, include

Doc Watson Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson (March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. He won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. His ...

, Dave Van Ronk,

Utah Phillips Bruce Duncan "Utah" Phillips (May 15, 1935 – May 23, 2008)
, KVMR, Nevada City, California, May 24, 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2008 ...

, Robin & Linda Williams, Eric Peltoniemi, "Spider" John Koerner,

Duck Baker Richard Royall "Duck" Baker IV (born July 30, 1949) is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist who plays in a variety of styles: jazz, blues, gospel, ragtime, folk, and Irish and Scottish music. He has written many instruction books for guitar ...

Dave "Snaker" Ray Dave "Snaker" Ray (August 17, 1943 – November 28, 2002) was an American blues singer and guitarist from St. Paul, Minnesota, and was associated with Spider John Koerner and Tony "Little Sun" Glover in the early Sixties folk revival. Together, ...

, and

Peter Ostroushko Peter Ostroushko (August 12, 1953 – February 24, 2021) was an American violinist and mandolinist. He performed regularly on the radio program ''A Prairie Home Companion'' and with a variety of bands and orchestras in Minneapolis–Saint Paul an ...

Critical reception

Reviewing Hull's 1991 album ''Reunion Rag'' for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Richard Foss praised "Hull's astonishing skill as both a guitarist and composer. At times Hull sounds like John Fahey during the latter's sunnier moments, playing bright ragtime pieces and introspective tunes inspired by American traditional and old timey music. ... Many of these pieces deserve to become classics."

Discography

Solo

* ''Hull’s Victory'' (

Flying Fish The Exocoetidae are a family (biology), family of Saltwater fish, marine Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish in the order (biology), order Beloniformes, known colloquially as flying fish or flying cod. About 64 species are grouped in seven genus, ge ...

, 1983) * ''Reunion Rag'' (Flying Fish, 1991) * ''New Shirt'' (Arabica, 1994) * ''Sheridan Square Rag'' (Arabica, 2002) * ''The Loyalty Waltz'' (Arabica, 2004) * ''Time Machine'' (Arabica, 2007) * ''Under the North Star'' (Arabica, 2013) * ''Heavenly Hope'' (Arabica 2016) * ''This Earthly Life'' (Arabica, 2016) * ''Another Cup'' (Arabica, 2018) * ''The Graveyard Shift'' (Arabica, 2019) * ''Six-Guns & Fountain Pens'' (Arabica, 2021) * ''Better Late Than Never'' (Arabica, 2023)

With others

* ''Ace Pickin’ and Sweet Harmony'' (Train on the Island Records, 1977) with Sean Blackburn * ''North by Southwest'' (Biscuit City Records, 1978) with Sean Blackburn * ''River of Swing'' (Flying Fish, 1977) with Sean Blackburn * ''Double Cappuccino'' (Arabica, 1998) as Hull & Larson with Kari Larson * ''Moonbeams'' (Arabica, 1999) as Hull & Larson with Kari Larson * ''The Goose is Getting Fat'' (Arabica, 2000) as Hull & Larson with Kari Larson * ''Airship'' (Arabica, 2007) with Pop Wagner * ''When You Ask a Girl to Leave Her Happy Home'' (Arabica, 2011) with

* ''Sukiyaki'' (Arabica, 2018) with Takasi Hamada, Xavier Ohmura, and Shohei Toyoda

References

External links

Official Dakota Dave Hull website
*

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hull, Dakota Dave 1950 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists American fingerstyle guitarists Musicians from Minneapolis Musicians from North Dakota 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians