Biography

Ohio native Douglas Bonnell, an American Indian descendant who adopted the name Douglas Blue Feather in the '90s, performs his flute/new age compositions on Native American-style flutes. His first album, Seventh Fire, was released on Spirit Hawk Records in the spring of 1998 and features his flute with keyboards, percussion, and nature sounds. His sophomore album, 2000's Arrival, won Best Independent CD at the Native American Music Awards (the Nammys) and was picked up by the ZYX Music label in 2003. He won another Nammy in 2002, this time for Flutist of the Year for Ride the Lightning, a solo flute recording. Also on Spirit Hawk Records were 2003's Star Nations, which won a Best New Age Nammy, the following year's The Great Spirit of Christmas with Char-El on keyboards, 2005's Time for Truth, which won him another Best New Age Nammy, and 2006's Heal the Earth. In 2007, he released A Crown of Stars with Dunlap and Henke on the Divine Wind label, featuring his flute plus keyboards, percussion, guitar, lap slide, and bass. The same year another solo album, The Spirit of the Flute, was released back on Spirit Hawk, and Blue Feather was featured on Peter Kater's album Faces of the Sun, which was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Age Album. The year 2008 saw the releases of Kokopelli Christmas and Sacred Space. A collection, The Best of Douglas Blue Feather, was issued in 2010, and he won Indian Summer Music Awards for his next three albums: Rollin' Like Thunder, which partnered him with guitarist Danny Voris and a number of guest artists, 2011's Earth Songs, again with Voris, and 2012's Flute Medicine. Dawn of a New Light was released the following year, and the rhythmic Rhythms of the Night came in 2015. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi