Jonathan Dowell is the 2007 Southern Regional Mountain Dulcimer Champion.
This contest at the Ozark Folk Center is a premiere competition, featuring many talented contestants in an awesome venue unmatched by other regional and national competitions.
 

Jonathan once lived in the Ozark Mountains of Southwest Missouri. His grandfather was a fiddle player, himself a descendent of Scots-Irish settlers who had homesteaded in the hills of Taney County. Jonathan took this heritage, added studies of music at Southwest Missouri State University, and developed skills in the modern style of the Mountain Dulcimer.

Jonathan learned dulcimer techniques from a long list of gifted teachers. First among these is his mother, Josephine Dowell, who brought the dulcimer to the Dowell family as she attended the Dulcimer Jamborees at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas. Other influential instructors have included Aubrey Atwater, Scott Odena, Karen Mueller, Dana Hamilton, Judy Klinkhammer, Pam Kirby, David Moran, Dennis Moran, and two giants of dulcimer history: David Schnaufer and Jean Jennings. Among the non-dulcimer influences are Erin Leahy and all her brothers and sisters, Dave Smith, J.C. Bonds, Beki Jeanne Fuller, Kathy Sutterfield, and all the girls of the Patchwork string band.

Jonathan's performances include seven exhibitions at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas; opening for concerts by Atwater-Donnelly in Los Alamos and at the St. Francis Auditorium in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and other concerts and coffeehouse performances in Los Alamos, Albuquerque, and Springfield, Missouri.

Jonathan plays McSpadden Mountain Dulcimers. These masterpieces are handcrafted at the McSpadden Dulcimer Shop in Mountain View, Arkansas. Jonathan plays a McSpadden Custom Quilted-Maple Dulcimer built by George Looney, a McSpadden Standard Spruce-top Walnut Dulcimer built by Lynn McSpadden, and the McSpadden Custom Spruce-top Cherry Dulcimer that was first prize in the 2007 Southern Regional Mountain Dulcimer Championship.

Jonathan performs with a variety of electro-acoustic accessories, including Shure SM57 and ElectroVoice N/D 257 microphones, Baggs and BBE Sonic Maximizer direct boxes, Mackie 808S amplifier with Mackie C200 speakers, and Roland Cube 60 amplifier. Digital recordings use Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio 4XL and Goldwave software.