The Museum of Natural History in New York has a flute on exhibit that dates back over 20,000 years – long before any recorded history. What is so significant about the flute to mankind?

Various cultures reflect on the flute as a spiritual instrument, because it comes from the foundation of the body; breath and rhythm. Virtually all cultures have created some sort of melodic, mouth or nose blown instrument, and while the Native American flute is exceptionally distinctive and indigenous only to the North American continent, it offers much of the same attitude towards communication, melodic expression, and "soulfull" expression.

How would you describe or categorize the sort of music you make?

That's a tough one. It's a blend of KISS meets James Horner inspired by Peter Gabriel and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. With a twist of Tull thrown in for good measure.

You mention on your website that you "write melodies on the flute and everything else falls into place around it.” Can you give an example from your music?

A good example is the theme song for the Emmy winning series "The Way West." The melody was developed on the flute, and then strings, percussion, and guitar were laid in around on it. A number of artists have used my flute sample library as well, creating a melody with the samples, and laying in supporting arrangements around it. Melody virtually always drives the day, and the flute allows an amazing range of melodic expression, even though it's only 11 notes.

How did you get introduced to the flute?

Well, I'd heard one as a kid at a fair, and then heard Doc Tate playing on television somewhere around 1974-75. From there, I wanted to build my own, and did so. It sort of took off from there. In the mid 90's, pentatonic flutes started hitting the market and I got into those as well. I believe I'm one of the few that record both pentatonic and diatonic flutes.

You played guitar in a rock band that opened for ZZ Top and then took some time off from music. What brought you back to music and the flute in particular?

What causes most any musician on the rise to abandon all dreams :-) Marriage. My wife (ex) didn't like me touring, and so it became clear that if my marriage were to survive, I needed to give up the traveling lifestyle and do a "real" job. In hindsight, I can't help but wonder where I'd be now had I kept touring rather than trying to create a second music career.

You’ve worked with recording artists like Michael Jackson and on movie and T.V. soundtracks like The X Files. How do you have to change your approach to the flute and to your music when working in these different environments?

In these situations, the musical director calls the style of playing he/she wants. For example, a composer like Peter Buffett knows the song's emotion, and he knows he wants to have the flute in the song for any number of reasons. Usually, it becomes a situation of me improvising over their rhythmic work, with the director or composer telling me "Give me more sorrow, give me more anger, could you do something lilting here, please?" So, working within rough confines of their melodic elements, I'll inject my style of playing.

How did you get involved in the film and T.V. scene in the first place?

I'd gotten a call from the BBC, they'd heard one of my records and wanted to know if we could license the work. We couldn't, due to publishing issues. So, the offer was made to score the piece. About that same time, I'd gotten a call from the "Natural World" television show, and they wanted similar work. It didn't take long to sort of "move up" that ladder. At the time, there were only 3 flute players of repute, so you might say I was a master in a field of 3. <grin>

What sorts of things could we expect to see in your Voices of Native America tour?

We present 12 dancers, plus the band, a mix of pyrotechnics, traditional music, and modern ethnic. It's spiritual, explosive, high tech, and cultural all at the same time.

"First Contact” from your album Pray is an interesting example of your blending of many musical styles. What inspired this piece and what musical elements are in there?

First Contact is about the Spanish arriving in the Hopi pueblos, and how they tried to force the Hopi to convert to Catholicism. The Hopi never did allow the Catholics to build a cathedral or church on their lands, even to this day. They resisted. Peacefully, but they resisted. In the song, you can hear the tug and push, and gentle response of the Hopi.

How does your work intersect with recording technology?

That's what's really ironic, isn't it? I'm playing one of the oldest intruments indigenous to the Americas, and recording in some of the most advanced technology. It's been great being able to combine the open-ended creativity of HDD recording and DAW editing, with the techniques I learned back in the days of Soundstream and Fantasy, plus the older flute sounds and constantly trying to improve that. The technology is critical to what I do, because it allows efficient workflows and high volume output of content, and today....that's what clients demand.

What kinds of things are you using the iZotope plug-ins for these days?

Oh heck...that list would be long and huge. Ozone is found on almost everything I do. Vinyl and Trash were recently used on processes for the PBS documentary "The War that Made America" due on PBS in January 2006. I can't gush on enough about the tools. I was recently handed some fairly weak audio from the touring Broadway show "Chorus Line" that needed to be included in their :30 spots. Ozone allowed me to "pump up the jam" enough so that it was usable and even appreciable. Ozone to me, is one of the tools EVERY producer/musician/video editor needs to have in their kit. Not having it is like being a carpenter without a screwdriver.

What current projects are you really excited about?

Well, on the musical side I'm really excited about my newest recording "Ghosts and Lovers," and on the video side, I've got a couple of documentaries going. It's always exciting to see a new project come to fruition.

To hear more about Douglas' varied carreer, visit www.spottedeagle.com.