Biography

Dean Phelps plays heart-friendly songs to the toe-tapping beat of Travis-style guitar.

Dean has been singing, playing guitar, and performing for over 30 years, and during the last few years he has added a new skill on the guitar by learning the thumbpicking guitar style made popular by Merle Travis.

Along the way he has earned local and national recognition for his guitar playing, such as a first place championship in the national thumbpicking guitar contest at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Ark., in 2012 and being named thumbpick guitar champion at the Indiana Picking and Fiddling Championship in 2010.

Dean's fourth CD, Picking the Faith, marries the toe-tapping beat of the thumbpicking guitar style with traditional hymns and gospel music. This combination reflects Dean's musical roots and the influence of pickers like Merle Travis and Doc Watson.

"This record brings together two loves for me," he says, "my new love of thumbpicking guitar and my old love of traditional hymns and gospel."

Dean Phelps has appeared on roots and Americana radio programs such as Redbud Radio (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Red Barn Radio (Lexington, Ky.).