Mike Dawes

Mike Dawes is an English guitarist known for composing, arranging, and performing multiple parts simultaneously on one instrument. He is hailed as one of the world’s most creative modern fingerstyle guitarist with a repertoire spanning solo viral video hits alongside mainstream chart success performing with Justin Hayward from The Moody Blues. Dawes was named “Best Acoustic Guitarist in the World” by Total Guitar Magazine / MusicRadar in both December 2017 and 2018 readers polls with three additional second place rankings.

Dawes’ recent solo album, ERA, spawned a viral hit with his arrangement of “One” by Metallica that has over 4 million YouTube views. His debut record, “What Just Happened?”, featured the fan favorite original, “Boogie Slam” and another viral hit with the Gotye song, “Somebody That I Use To Know” with almost 5 million YouTube views. Dawes is also featured on multiple Justin Hayward live releases such as Spirits...Live, which debuted at #2 on the US Billboard Chart. Dawes also a strong reputation as a music educator, acting as a columnist for Guitar World and Acoustic Guitar as well as teaching multiple guitar workshops all over the world. In addition to touring North America and Europe with Justin Hayward, Dawes has also toured with fingerstyle guitarists such as Andy McKee and Tommy Emmanuel.

In September 2022, Emmanuel and Dawes released, Accomplice Series Vol. 3, which was a duo EP featuring five covers from five diverse artists. He has also teamed up with grammy-nominated Periphery vocalist Spencer Sotelo and ex Sunrise Avenue multi-platinum producer Jukka Backlund to form Nik Mystery, a Las Vegas popwave trio. Other collaborators include Plini, Fink, Alestorm, and Dr. John. Dawes has also been a part of several ‘International Guitar Night’ tours.