Dean Phelps plays heart-friendly songs to the toe-tapping beat of Travis-style guitar.

Although Dean has been singing, playing guitar, and performing for over 30 years, during the last few years he has developed a new skill in learning a style of guitar playing known as thumbpicking. Along the way he has earned local and national recognition for his guitar playing, such as a first place championship in the national thumbpicking guitar contest at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Ark., this year and being named thumbpick guitar champion at the Indiana Picking and Fiddling Championship in 2010.

“These competitions are great fun for me,” he says. “I’ve met and had the opportunity to play with some excellent players who are also delightful people to be around.”

Dean’s fourth CD, Picking the Faith, is scheduled for release on August 15, and marries the toe-tapping guitar beat of the thumbpicking style with traditional hymns and gospel music. This combination reflects Dean’s musical roots and the influence of pickers like Merle Travis and Doc Watson.

Picking the Faith will be Dean’s first CD release since Give Us a Song in 2008, which continues to receive radio airplay across the U.S. and Europe.