Donald Ridings - From The Wild (DRM)

The city of Louisville is where Donald Ridings was born, but for the first few years of his life it was not a place that he saw very often.  Being the oldest son of an army helicopter pilot, he didn't stay places for long. From Kentucky to Hawaii most of his early childhood was spent making friends and leaving them. Then, when Donald was about eight years old, his parents split up and he landed in southern Indiana with his mother after she remarried.  He got to see his father every other weekend, and it was on those weekends that he first started learning guitar. But, on Christmas day his sophomore year in college, all of that learning was undone.  A snow covered interstate caused Donald to flip his car, and lose the tip of his left index finger.  He spent the next month re-teaching himself how to play the guitar with three good fingers and one in a cast.
A short while after that, Donald's brother came home after getting out of the coast guard.  The two of them started playing open mic nights together and eventually formed a band, Jonesdog.  They played a handful of local shows at local bars, opening once for The Velcro Pygmies, but Donald decided that he needed to finish college before chasing his dream of playing music.
After getting his degree Donald quickly began writing songs again.  Honing his craft as he played at numerous open mic nights at Stevie Ray’s Blues Bar in Louisville and travelled many times to Nashville to play the same stage that Garth Brooks got his start, The Bluebird Cafe.  He has drawn comparisons from Amos Lee to Tom Petty and his strong melodic hooks and relatable lyrics always leave an impression on the listener.