David Todd Rawlings (born December 30, 1969) is an American guitarist, singer, and record producer. He is known for his musical partnership with singer and songwriter

Gillian Welch Gillian Howard Welch (; born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, coun ...

. He and Welch were nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the Film industry, motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who h ...

at the

91st Academy Awards The 91st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best 2018 in film, films of 2018 and took place on February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During th ...

for " When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" from ''

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs ''The Ballad of Buster Scruggs'' (titled on-screen as ''The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Other Tales of the American Frontier'') is a 2018 American Western anthology film written, directed, produced, and edited by the Coen brothers. It stars Ti ...

''. In 2020, Welch and Rawlings released '' All the Good Times (Are Past & Gone)'', which won the 2021

Grammy Award for Best Folk Album The Grammy Award for Best Folk Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for releasing albums in the folk genre. Honors in several ...

. In 2024, Welch and Rawlings released ''Woodland'', which won the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Folk Album, currently making Welch and Rawlings the only duo to win the award more than once.

Life and career

Rawlings attended the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

and studied with Lauren Passarelli. He produced albums by Gillian Welch, Willie Watson,

Dawes Dawes may refer to: Places Australia *Dawes (Parish), New South Wales *Dawes Point, New South Wales Untied States *Dawes Arboretum, in Newark, Ohio *Dawes County, Nebraska *Dawes Township, Thurston County, Nebraska Other uses * Dawes (band), ...

, and

Old Crow Medicine Show Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana (music), Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, ''Remedy (Old Crow Med ...

. In the mid-2010s he led a band called the Dave Rawlings Machine, composed of Rawlings, Gillian Welch, Willie Watson, Paul Kowert, and

Brittany Haas Brittany Caroline Haas (born 1987) is an American fiddle player, who also sings and plays the banjo. She is a member of the Boston-based alternative bluegrass band Crooked Still, which is currently on hiatus. She was a regular performer on Live ...

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-born naval officer who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Often referred to as the "Father of the American Navy", Jones is regard ...

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

has been known to play mandolin with the band occasionally. Rawlings contributed to the albums '' Cassadaga'' by Bright Eyes, '' Spooked'' by

Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the ...

, and '' Heartbreaker'' by

Ryan Adams David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is an American Rock music, rock and Country music, country singer-songwriter. He has released 30 studio albums and three as a former member of Whiskeytown. In 2000, Adams left Whiskeytown and released ...

, with whom he wrote two songs, "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)" and "Touch, Feel and Lose". His vocal style has often been compared to that of Bob Dylan.

Recordings

''A Friend of a Friend'' (2009)

The Dave Rawlings Machine album ''A Friend of a Friend'' was released on November 17, 2009. Rawlings recorded the album in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, and produced it himself. Gillian Welch is credited as a co-writer on five of the album's songs as well playing in the band with members of

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were an American rock band formed in Gainesville, Florida, in 1976. The band originally comprised lead singer and rhythm guitarist Tom Petty, lead guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, drummer ...

, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Bright Eyes. The album features a medley of a

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

and Bright Eyes song, as well as songs Rawlings co-wrote with Ryan Adams and Old Crow Medicine Show. Morgan Nagler (of the band Whispertown) is credited with co-writing the song "Sweet Tooth".

''Nashville Obsolete'' (2015)

In 2015 Dave Rawlings Machine released a second album, ''Nashville Obsolete''. The album was named to Rolling Stone's list of the top 40 country albums of 2016. In late 2016 Acony issued ''Boots No 1: The Official Revival Bootleg'', a deluxe version of the 1996 Welch album considered a "modern Americana classic" and the first collaboration for the duo.

''Poor David's Almanack'' (2017)

''Poor David's Almanack'', released on August 11, 2017, via Acony Records, is the eighth collaborative LP for Rawlings and Welch and the first under the name David Rawlings. In addition to Welch and Watson, the backup band includes Brittany Haas, Paul Kowert, Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show, and

Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) ** List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) ...

and Griffin Goldsmith of

. The album was recorded with Ken Scott and Matt Andrews at the Rawlings/Welch duo's

Woodland Sound Studios Woodland Studios is a music recording studio located at 1011 Woodland Street in East Nashville, Tennessee originally founded in 1967. The studios have been the site of numerous notable recordings by artists including Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Jimmy ...

in Nashville. The album features an original woodcut piece by Gillian Welch on the cover and was notably the first vinyl release on Welch and Rawlings' Acony record label. "Cumberland Gap" was used as the opening song to

Guy Ritchie Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter known primarily for British comedy gangster films and large-scale action-adventure films. Ritchie left school at the age of 15, and worked in e ...

's 2019 film, ''The Gentlemen''. It was nominated for

Best American Roots Song The Grammy Award for Best American Roots Song is an award category at the annual Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the American Roots Music ...

at the 2018 Grammy Awards.

''All the Good Times (Are Past and Gone)'' (2020)

In July 2020, Rawlings and Welch announced '' All the Good Times (Are Past & Gone)'', an album of covers and traditional songs recorded at their home during the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020. ''All the Good Times'' is notably the first album in their decades-long history of collaboration to be released jointly in both of their names. The album won the 2021 Grammy Award for

Best Folk Album The Grammy Award for Best Folk Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for releasing albums in the Folk music, folk genre. Honors ...

Instrument

Rawlings achieves his signature guitar sound

flatpicking Flatpicking (or simply picking) is the technique of striking the strings of a guitar with a pick (also called a plectrum) held between the thumb and one or two fingers. It can be contrasted to fingerstyle guitar, which is playing with indi ...

a small archtop guitar. The 1935

Epiphone Epiphone () is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in İzmir, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over ...

Olympic that has been his primary instrument was a mid-priced guitar for its time, with a carved arched solid sprucewood top, carved arched solid mahogany back and mahogany sides.1934 Epiphone sales catalog It sold for about $35 in 1935 (). The guitar's lower bout measures 13 5/8 inches wide, and it has three piece f-holes. Rawlings "scavenged" the guitar from a friend's garage and is now hardly seen playing anything else. As he states, "I just picked it up. It was filthy, and it didn't have strings. You could just see the shape of it under the sawdust." Rawlings had a new one piece bridge made for it and brought it to a recording session for Welch's first record. "As soon as I heard it through the microphone and through the speakers I was like, 'I love this guitar'." he says.

Discography

Dave Rawlings Machine

* ''A Friend of a Friend'' (Acony, 2009) * '' Nashville Obsolete'' (Acony, 2015)

David Rawlings

* ''Poor David's Almanack'' (Acony, 2017)

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings

* '' All the Good Times (Are Past & Gone)'' (Acony, 2020) * ''

Woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

'' (Acony, 2024)

Gillian Welch

* '' Revival'' (Almo Sounds, 1996) * ''

Hell Among the Yearlings ''Hell Among the Yearlings'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Gillian Welch, released on July 28, 1998. Track listing Musicians *Gillian Welch: Acoustic guitar, vocal *David Rawlings: Acoustic guitar, vocal Tracks 3, ...

'' (Acony, 1998) * '' Time (The Revelator)'' (Acony, 2001) * '' Soul Journey'' (Acony, 2003) * ''

The Harrow & The Harvest ''The Harrow & the Harvest'' is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Gillian Welch. Released on 28 June 2011, it was Welch's first album in eight years. The album was nominated for Best Folk Album for the 54th Grammy Awards. Ba ...

'' (Acony, 2011) * ''Boots No. 1: The Official Revival Bootleg '' (Acony, 2016) *''Boots No. 2: The Lost Songs'' (Acony, 2020)

As guest

With Ryan Adams * '' Heartbreaker'' (2000) * ''

Demolition Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction (building), deconstruction, which inv ...

'' (2002) With Bright Eyes * '' Four Winds'' (Saddle Creek, 2007) * '' Cassadaga'' (Saddle Creek, 2007) With others *

Ani DiFranco Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (; born September 23, 1970) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influenc ...

, '' Swing Set'' (2000) *

, ''

'' (2004) *

, '' Spooked'' (2004) * The Whispertown 2000, ''Swim'' (Acony, 2008) *

Sara Watkins Sara Ullrika Watkins (born June 8, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and fiddler. Watkins debuted in 1989 as the fiddler of Nickel Creek, the progressive bluegrass group she formed with her brother Sean and mandolinist Chris Thile. In addi ...

, ''

'' ( Nonesuch, 2009)

References

External links

* David Rawlings and Gillian Welc
NPR Tiny Desk Concert Video
* David Rawlings o

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawlings, David 1969 births Living people American acoustic guitarists American male guitarists American bluegrass guitarists American country singer-songwriters American country guitarists American male singers Americana Music Honors & Awards winners Grammy Award winners Country musicians from Rhode Island People from North Smithfield, Rhode Island Berklee College of Music alumni Singers from Rhode Island Guitarists from Rhode Island Record producers from Rhode Island