Finding fame in Bigfork: Irish guitarist places first in world finals

Bigfork isn’t exactly a place one would

expect to become a star or launch a music career.

It is better known as a place that

people leave to go make their mark elsewhere, or as place where

those who are stars enjoy hiding out in and escaping the rest of

the world.

However, David Browne-Murray will

always have a different take on Bigfork. To him, it will always be

the place where he won the 2011 Lee Ritenour-Yamaha Six String

Theory Competition world finals, an honor that comes with a hefty

prize pack, some notoriety and a lot of connections.

“It’s awesome. I still don’t think that

I’ve fully processed this whole thing,” said Browne-Murray days

after winning the competition, which was held Aug. 31 at the

Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts in conjunction with the

Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival.

Although excited about his

accomplishment, the 22-year-old from Ireland, who competed as an

acoustic guitarist in the contest, wasn’t exactly sure how to deal

with the aftermath of his accomplishment. In Ireland, he has a

close-knit group of friends who he spends his time with, and crowds

aren’t his forte. That is, of course, unless he’s performing. Then

the more people in the room, the more comfortable he is.

“But socially it’s the opposite,”

Browne-Murray said. “I’ve never been able to just open up to people

right off the bat. Here in Bigfork is probably the first time I’ve

been able to push myself to do that.”

Browne-Murray said he was able to take

a different approach with the social situations throughout his

four-day stay in Bigfork during the festival last month “because of

the people and their attitude. Everyone has a laid-back, chill

attitude, as you all say.”

While the social aspects of his

accomplishment may pose some obstacles, the craft he was

acknowledged for is his greatest passion. He spends a great deal of

each day playing guitar. In fact, it is not uncommon for him to get

up from hanging out with his friends and leave to go play his

guitar just because he feels the urge to, which is a pull his

friends have come to understand.

Although most of Browne-Murray’s guitar

playing is not done in front of an audience, he does play shows

here and there, which was enough to make the performances in the

guitar contest a not-too-uncomfortable experience.

“I play enough quality gigs at home

that it prepared me to come here and play on the stage in front of

all these people,” Browne-Murray said. “That was an awesome

experience with an awesome crowd.”

In order to get to the world finals,

Browne-Murray submitted two videos demonstrating his guitar skills,

including the first song he played at the finals in Bigfork,

“Propane Nightmares” (which can be viewed at www.bigforkeagle.com).

Then a panel of judges selected six semifinalists in each of the

six categories — rock, jazz, blues, country, classical and

acoustic. Those finalists were given full scholarships to attend

and compete at one of six national guitar workshops, depending on

their style of play, over the summer.

The semifinalists in the acoustic group

attended the workshop at the Sandy Spring Friends School in Sandy

Spring, Md., which was held June 26 through July 1. It was there

that Browne-Murray was selected to represent the acoustic group in

the world finals.

This was the second time that

Browne-Murray has been in the finals for the Lee Ritenour-Yamaha

Six String Theory Competition, which has now been held for two

years. Last year the format was slightly different. Contestants

submitted videos and the semifinalists were selected through those

videos. The finals were held in Los Angeles.

“It was cool last year to chill around

LA, but this is completely different,” Browne-Murray said. “It’s

been a whole week of workshops and making connections. It’s all

been profitable.”

Last year Browne-Murray finished sixth

in the finals.

“I was disappointed, and I went home

and didn’t do much. I played a couple of gigs,” Browne-Murray

said.

However, as the entry deadline

approached for the 2011 contest Browne-Murray became interested in

applying again.“I read the prize list this year and compared it to

last year, and I saw that they’d give me a $25 application fee

instead of a $50 fee, so I figured why not,” Browne-Murray said.

“I’d been playing every day for the past 13 to 15 months, and it

was a good way to get back to America.”

The prize pack that caught

Browne-Murray’s eye, and is now his to enjoy, includes two guitars,

a guitar endorsement from Yamaha Corporation, a year of

“professional mentoring” from guitar great Lee Ritenour, a featured

artist slot in the 2011 National Guitar Workshop Clinic Tour, a

recording contract opportunity from Concord Records, Monster “Beats

by Dre” Headphones, a two-year string endorsement worth $1,000 from

D’Addario String Company, distinction as a Monster Cable “Famous

Monster” and a seven-day vacation stay at the Flathead Lake

Lodge.

While the list of prizes is what drew

Browne-Murray into the contest this year, he said the greatest

prize of all is not on that list.

“The prizes are great. I’m grateful,

but the prize to me is all the connections and getting to come to

America, and the trip back to stay in Montana at the lodge and that

they’re sending me to Japan for the national guitar workshop,”

Browne-Murray said.

Browne-Murray, who is the oldest of

four siblings, has visited America at least once a year since he

was 16 years-old and dreamed of moving to the states since he was

18. The desire behind wanting to be in America is hard to explain,

he said.

“It’s not America, it’s Americans,”

Browne-Murray said. “It’s always just kind of clicked. I can’t

really explain it. I just look at the facts of where I’ve been when

things have worked out, and where people are that I’ve met that are

really cool. My two best friends are Pennsylvanians.”

Obviously, his win at the world finals

did little to change his theory on America. His secret to getting

the first-place finish is simple — he just treated it like any

other gig. That calmness, as well as a few other factors are what

he thinks may have set him apart.

“I had some distinct advantages in that

I had played in it last year, and I was prepared for it,”

Browne-Murray said. “At the end of the day I was also the only

soloist. I provide enough sound with my guitar to put on a show

just by myself, and I think I stood out that way. Not that the band

(who accompanied the other five acts) didn’t do a great job. My

performance stands out on its own, though. I got great work from

the sound guy who did an incredible job for me too. My guitar has

never sounded better.”

The judges, who took a lengthy amount

of time deliberating after each musician had performed two songs,

agreed that Browne-Murray’s performance certainly set him

apart.

“It was seven guitar players, including

the duo in different genres, so it made the contest much different

than just judging the guitarists against each other and more about

judging the artists individually,” said vice president of The

GRAMMY Foundation and the MusiCares Foundation Scott Goldman, who

served as one of the judges at the competition. “So, we began

looking at the individual abilities of each artist. They all did

well in performing their first song, but we really looked at how

they did in their second song once the butterflies were gone and

they had loosened up a bit. What we found about David is that he

was good the first time, but he came out the second time and he

just smoked it. He just really stepped up and really elevated his

game.”

Goldman was one of seven judges who

made up the panel at the contest that night in Bigfork. He opted to

take part in the judging because of his passion for music,

especially in regards to exposing young people to its many

facets.

“Music is not unlike sports, in that

there are very few kids that grow up to be performers,” Goldman

said. “However, many people work in the music industry in another

way. I have little doubt that all of these performers (that were in

the contest) will end up in the industry in some way or another,

even if it’s not performing.”

As for Browne-Murray, once the guitar

festival was over he returned to Ireland to find his balance

again.

“Every experience was amazing, but it’s

too much for a guy like me to not go home for a couple weeks. But

then I’m going to work on coming back here,” Browne-Murray said.

“I’m not going to sit and wait. If something comes up with the

contest that’s great, but I have two workshops worth of contacts

and I want to start lining up gigs.”