David LaMotte

David LaMotte
“...guitar-spanking open-tuning
grooves as well as gentle folk-tinged
pop. His lyrics range from insightful
image-driven stories to equally insightful humor.”
- Washington Times
"...pushes the envelope with challenging lyrics and unusual
tunings, but he also pays homage to folk tradition."
- The Boston Globe
“charm, stories, humour, insightful songs, sweet voice
and dazzling guitar ability.”
- BBC Radio Belfast
“contemplative and intimate ...melodious folk pop imbued
with a subtle joyous spirit.”
- Performing
Songwriter
Magazine
“a global citizen... touched
hearts across the globe.”
- The Hindu (India)
David LaMotte
David LaMotte is an award-winning songwriter, speaker
and writer. He has performed over 2500 concerts and
released eleven full-length CDs of primarily original music, touring in forty-eight of the fifty states, as well as
extensively in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The
Boston Globe writes that his music “pushes the envelope with challenging lyrics and unusual tunings, but he
also pays homage to folk tradition,” while BBC Radio
Belfast lauds his “charm, stories, humour, insightful
songs, sweet voice and dazzling guitar ability.”
Touring full-time for over two decades, LaMotte developed
a large and loyal following around the world. His music has
been honored with numerous awards and grants as well as
artist sponsorships from Taylor Guitars and John Pearse
Strings.
David’s music has been featured on dozens of artist compilations. Notably, his song Dark and Deep was included on
Songs Inspired By Literature, Chapter One, a benefit CD
to raise money for adult literacy. Other artists on that CD
include Suzanne Vega, Aimee Mann and Bruce Springsteen.
Several independent films feature David’s music, and it has
been heard on the Today Show and the Showtime television
series This American Life.
LaMotte has appeared on stage with several of the musical
heroes of his youth, including Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie
and America, as well as prominent contemporary artists
like Shawn Mullins, and his partners in the “Three Davids”
concerts, David Wilcox and David Holt.
Known for inspiring songs and storytelling, David also
tries to live out the ideas he sings about. In 2008, he
suspended his music career to give his focus to his other
vocational passion, peacemaking. As a recipient of the
prestigious Rotary World Peace Fellowship, he earned a
masters degree in International Studies, Peace and Conflict Resolution at Brisbane, Australia’s University of
Queensland. As part of that fellowship, he also spent
three months in rural India working with a Gandhian
sustainable development organization.
As the co-founder and director (as a volunteer) of PEG
Partners, Inc. he works with schools schools and libraries
in Guatemala to improve learning environments there, and
because of his strong commitment to peacemaking,
he has traveled in several of the world’s conflict zones,
from Bosnia and Belfast to Hebron and Haiti, promoting intercultural understanding and seeking to learn
from people on the front lines of peace work. He also
serves as the Clerk (Chairperson) of the Nobel Peace
Prize Nominating Task Group for the American Friends
Service Committee.
LaMotte’s third book, Worldchanging 101: Challenging the
Myth of Powerlessness, has been adopted by several colleges and universities as a textbook. His previous book,
White Flour, is an illustrated children’s book about nonviolence, based on the true story of a Ku Klux Klan rally
in 2007 that was met and transformed by a group calling
itself the Coup Clutz Clowns. His first children’s book,
S.S. Bathtub, is based on his award-winning song by the
same name.
LaMotte lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina, with
his wife and son. He is now turning his attention to a
new CD project which will be produced by Tom Prasada-Rao. The recording will include a new collection of
original songs and musical guests from around the
world.