Biography

Don Whitaker is an Indiana singer/songwriter currently living in Putnam County Indiana. He recently launched his newest band, Street Legal, which he fronts, the band currently playing at different venues in West Central Indiana.

His first introduction to performing occurred at age six, when he found himself standing atop bars at local VFWs to sing covers – music coming from the bar’s jukebox – his efforts adding to Don’s stash of quarters for his pinball fascination. Don has been playing professionally since the age of 15, appearing in the horn section of the touring band, Morning Star, while also taking his turn at the mic as a young singer.

Over the years Don became a sought after singer of rock, country & folk, while also becoming proficient in the guitar, bass, drums, piano, trumpet, trombone and fiddle. Some of the many bands he played with over the past several decades include Backwoods Boys, Chasing Rainbows, Backtracked and Rusted Buckle. Don says, “Sometimes it seems nothing matters but music. I’ve been doing this for years, and I know I’ll never stop.”

In early 2015, serendipity brought him to team up with writer/poet Ward Kelley. Ward says, “Don answered an ad he never read, appearing on my doorstep because he heard from a friend I was willing to pay a guitarist to help my daughter with her music videos.” This chance meeting led to the most unique collaboration of the two men’s artistic careers.

Ward had been publishing serious poetry for the past 45 years, and prior to meeting Don, wondered if there was a way to gain a wider audience for his poetry. He began re-reading the 1000+ poems he published during his career, noticing how certain lines in each piece would pop out at him. He decided to use a highlighter to notate these lines, then later saw how highlighted lines from one poem would coalesce with other lines from a different poem. Quickly songs put themselves together – more serendipity – as Ward continued his highlighting.

Over the weeks as Ward watched Don work with his daughter, he decided to ask him if he would be interested in writing the music and performing one of these poetical songs. Ward says, “I had no idea how Don would react when I handed him Gnarled Bones. I almost expected him to politely tell me it wasn’t his forte. But as I watched him read the mss, I saw his face brighten as he read the song more and more avidly. Finally Don exclaimed, ‘It’s sending a chill up my spine. Nobody is singing lyrics like this!’ And we were off and running.”

Just as the lyrics nearly wrote themselves for Ward, Don found the music for Gnarled Bones writing itself in the first hour. After refining it and practicing it, Don brought the song and his guitar to a video shoot and sang it – the moment he finished, the studio erupted in applause. Ward felt amazed, “The depth and emotion Don brought to those lyrics just blew me away. And every other song we work on, they all continually grow my admiration for Don’s ability to take poetry and translate it into music grabbing your soul and making you feel things you never thought you would feel. He’s an amazing entertainer.”

The collaboration continues. Don and Ward are busy building a musical/poetical portfolio of songs and topics quite new to the modern ear.