Short Biography
Arthur Davenport's musical style is diverse Americana, from folk to alt-county, rock and new age. He played in the Washington D.C. folk scene in the 1980's and then in the SW USA, in New Mexico, during the 1990’s. He’s been based in Hawai’i, since 2001.
Arthur was featured on National Public Radio performing his song, "Lonesome Cowboy," written for a NPR cowboy music compilation album entitled "'Round-em Up!"
This review for his 2002 "Reality Bends" album provides a fitting description of his style:
"Using only an acoustic guitar as backup, Arthur Davenport crafts sparse, haunting folk songs with a wry sense of the absurd. Deftly hopping from one vocal personality to another, sometimes within a line, this far-out mountain man keeps the listener guessing." Mike McGuire, Listen.com
Arthur released "Whispering to the Wind" in 2010, a collection of 10 original ballads performed with a full band.
His “La Rosa Dulce” song was a winner in the “A Still Small Voice 4U's” songwriting contest award in 2020 on the subject of “Monuments”.
The “Jonathan Leviathan” album came out in 2020 to present something old, new borrowed and blue, with solo songs, instrumentals and band-backed ballads.
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Arthur Davenport Biography
Arthur Davenport was born in 1957 in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, to a 21-year-old naval officer and his 19-year-old wife. As a youth he traveled from the East Coast to the West Coast and overseas with his family, moving about every 18 months to a new town with his father's assignments. His relatives are from South Carolina, so he is related to that place by extraction.
He started playing guitar in 1973 when his Mom bought him a Yamaha FG-160 6-string acoustic guitar (made in Japan) for his 16th birthday.
He wrote his first published song "So Near, So Far" the next year, featured on a compilation CD “Until You Come Home II”, in support of recovering veterans.
Arthur dropped out of high school in 1973 and lived on the streets and in halfway houses for over a year.
He returned home to graduate from High School in 1975 in Frederick, MD, and then went to the University of Maryland to study Agronomy. He earned a B.S. in 1979, and an M.S. in 1986 working as a plant breeder to evaluate and develop varieties of Wheat, Barley, Oats, Rye and Grain Amaranth.
Art studied folk guitar and voice lessons in two classes, but is otherwise an untrained "folk musician". He met David LaFleur in the mid-1970’s, and they have continued their musical friendship and collaboration ever since.
Arthur played extensively in living rooms, campsites, bus stations, pedestrian malls, back porches, parks, beaches, girlfriend's bedrooms, parties and family gatherings to develop his performing skills.
Arthur "went public", breaking out with much akimbo, buzz and flutter into the D.C. coffeehouse and brew-pub scene in the 1980's, playing in the shadow of people like Mary Chapin Carpenter and Emmy Lou Harris.
He met Phillip Dale Collison then, performing as a coffeehouse duo, and they remain collaborators with P.D. Collision’s contribution of songs that Art recorded.
Art moved to New Mexico during the 1990's and started a buzz-saw band with fluctuating names. There he met Jonathan Dodge Mayer, the drummer in the bands "Paradise Lost", "Humble Monkey", "Lonesome Dove", and the "Good Time Garageband". Jon went on to be the Co-Producer, and then Producer, of Art’s first two albums.
Our band won a “battle of the bands” contest in Las Cruces, N.M., which set off a riot when the drunken fans of the "Coors Silver Bullets" runner-up band disapproved, pelting the band, audience, equipment and sound man with liquid, solid and verbal projectiles. It provided an epiphany of sorts, that we were getting somewhere.
The band folded in 1994 when Jon left to move to a better music scene in Albuquerque. Art continues to work with band-mate Steve Young since then, with Steve writing and playing to songs that Art recorded.
Arthur returned to his solo act, playing regularly in Las Cruces and Taos. This was a prolific time for composing too, without the time-demands of a working band.
He earned a Ph.D in Agronomy in 1998 from New Mexico State University for his day job, working on onion breeding and cropping systems.
Arthur Davenport's musical career now spans over 45 years of songwriting and performance.
He has been featured on National Public Radio performing his song, "Lonesome Cowboy," specially written in 1994 for a KRWG Las Cruces NM cowboy music compilation album entitled "'Round-em Up!" published by David Brower, the program host.
Arthur moved to Hawai'i in 2001. He was a house musician for over 10 years at the Hilo Palace Theater, playing solo prior to the regularly scheduled "art-flick" movies.
This review for his 2002 "Reality Bends" album provides a fitting description of his solo style:
"Using only an acoustic guitar as backup, Arthur Davenport crafts sparse, haunting folk songs with a wry sense of the absurd. Deftly hopping from one vocal personality to another, sometimes within a line, this far-out mountain man keeps the listener guessing." Mike McGuire, Listen.com
Arthur’s second album, "Whispering to the Wind", from 2010 has ten original Americana ballads with a full band.
He released several single songs during 2017-18, including “Long Dark Highway”, “La Rosa Dulce”, “The Rich Man Always Gets His Pay”, “Jonathan Leviathan” and “Family Reunion”.
“La Rosa Dulce” was a winner in the “A Still Small Voice 4U's” songwriting contest award in 2020 on the subject of “Monuments”.
“Jonathan Leviathan”, his third album published in 2020, includes the previous singles with new songs, presenting something old, new, borrowed and blue.
Arthur is currently working to publish his body of works of poetry, and beginning a new album of music. “Stay Tuned”.
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“Imagination is the preview of coming attractions.” Albert Einstein 
