Derek Monypeny is a Joshua Tree, CA-based guitarist and oud player who has played in the bands Oaxacan, ALTO!, and Sir Richard Bishop's Freak Of Araby Ensemble. He has performed and toured with artists such as Bill Orcutt, Jozef van Wissem, Eva Aguila/Kevin Shields, Arrington de Dionyso, and many others.

Derek was born and raised in the Arizona desert, and has taken great inspiration from desert guitarists whose playing so perfectly reflected their surroundings in its gnarled beauty, and all-pervasive individualism: Richard Bishop, Zoot Horn Rollo, Curt Kirkwood, Jesus Acedo, Bob Log III, and Howe Gelb to name a few. In recent years, he has discovered that same spirit in North African guitarists based in and around the Sahara desert, such as Seddoum ould Eide, Hammadi ould Nana, and Luleide ould Dendenni. Derek sees his music as part of a continuum of desert musicians around the world.