David Harland is a fingerstyle guitarist and singer/songwriter in the tradition of great innovators like Michael Hedges, Nick Drake, David Wilcox and Billy McLaughlin. His music has been described as innovative, introspective, lyrical, and expressive.

For many years during the holiday season, Harland has performed arrangements of Christmas songs in his unique style of two-handed tapping and spacious open tunings. Year after year, audiences asked him where they could find this music. In 2023, he finally took the time to record his favorite pieces. The result is Christmas Presence, a buoyant collection of six instrumental acoustic guitar songs recorded at The Library Recording Studio in Minneapolis by the seasoned producer/engineer Matt Patrick. Five of the songs are classic Christmas songs and one is an original.

Since the age of 5, when he was gifted a plastic acoustic guitar for Christmas, Harland has felt the strong pull of music. That modest gift sparked a lifelong connection with guitar and songwriting. By age 14, Harland played bass guitar, sang, and wrote songs in a Minneapolis rock band. During his “rock band” days, he discovered his love of songwriting and melody, which ultimately led to his focus on acoustic guitar. He found it to be the perfect complement to his evolving songwriting style.

It wasn’t long before Harland became completely enamored with acoustic guitar music. Seeing and hearing how artists like Hedges, Drake, Wilcox and McLaughlin played completely changed his perception of what was possible with just an acoustic guitar. Soon, Harland was prolifically writing guitar music, integrating his love of melody and heartfelt emotion.

With Christmas Presence, he hopes listeners will be transported to a place of optimism, escape, and introspection. “My wish is that they will slow down, breathe deeply, and take the time to reflect on the past year and what is yet to come,“ he said.