Bio
Don Harvey is a composer and drummer based in Austin, TX. He has toured and recorded with Ian McLagan, Billy Bragg, Joe Ely, Charlie Sexton, Ronnie Lane, Broken Homes, Storyville, Martha Davis, and David Broza. He’s performed live with Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, Ronnie Wood, and Alejandro Escovedo. Don’s career highlights include opening for the Rolling Stones, playing The Late Show with David Letterman, PBS’s Austin City Limits, and MTV’s New Year’s Eve Rock ‘n Roll Ball. He received "Best Drummer" honors at the Austin Music Awards in 2007, and his ensemble, A is Red, won “Best Avant Garde Band” at the AMA’s in 2015 . Don co-founded the SIMS Foundation in 1995, and continues to raise funds for, and awareness about the organization’s mission, which is to provide mental health and substance use recovery services and support for musicians, music professionals, and their dependent family members.
Creative Mode
“I sketch out my compositions by feel, carefully tamping down the ever-present urge to overthink and edit as I go in order to let the mood, theme and pulse emerge in the moment. Groove might inspire or follow a melody, and when the moment strikes just right, there is only space with a subliminal pulsing undertow to work with. By slowly sowing separate movements together in my primitive home studio, I complete a recorded demo and establish a clear visual trip in my head. Then I head into a fine recording studio, and with the expertise of a producer (such as percussionist John Bush at his Cicada Moon Studios), we build and add on to whatever I recorded at home. Collaborating with some of my favorite musicians (Kevin Flatt, Jeremy Nail, Scott Garber & Joe McDermott and others) adds many dimensions of sound and color. Sonic paintings grounded in melody emerge with new buoyancy. Though the process of layering parts is inevitably complex, the mantra at the heart of my process is "less is more”. If successful, the outcome is simplicity.”