Doug Cox

Doug Cox ranks among Canada's most celebrated instrumentalists, with a passion for "all things slides and strings." Although he has earned greatest acclaim for his command of the Dobro resonator guitar, he also plays the bottleneck guitar, National steel guitar, Weissenborn, mandolin, and Mohan Veena with equal assurance. Born in Cumberland, a village on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, he took up the guitar during the '80s and focused on bottleneck slide until a late-'80s concert by Dobro virtuoso Jerry Douglas prompted an immediate shift. Captivated by the Dobro's singular tone and Douglas's masterful technique, Cox purchased one the following day and practiced as many as five hours daily to perfect his approach. His first solo album, Canadian Borderline, appeared in 1993, after which he became a sought-after session player throughout the mid-'90s, contributing to recordings by the Irish Rovers, Bob Bossin, Ken Hamm, Diamond Joe White, Michael Messer, and Rick Henry, among numerous others. His credits further encompass work with actor and folksinger Ronnie Cox, British blues legend Long John Baldry, and Canadian roots guitar icon Amos Garrett. He holds the distinction of being the first Canadian performer invited to Dobrofest, the Trnava, Slovakia event honoring the Dobro in the birthplace of its inventors, the Dopyera Brothers. Beyond solo releases, he has pursued joint projects that include forming the Gypsy folk quartet Strung alongside April Verch, Tony McManus, and Cody Walters; issuing two albums each with blues guitarist Todd Butler, vocalist Bettysoo, and Indian musicians Salil Bhatt and Ramkumar Mishra; and completing four albums with guitar picker Sam Hurrie, among them 2017's Old Friends. Outside the studio and stage, Cox serves as musical director of the Vancouver Island Music Fest.