About Daniel
When Daniel asked me to write this piece for his website bio, my response was,”are you insane?”… He said that he couldn’t write nice things about himself, and with that he handed the responsibility to me. He told me that he just needed some text to get the website launched and that he would worry about refining the site later... I said, “So now you’re saying that ultimately what ever text I come up with won’t stand the test of time.”… He said “don’t put words in my mouth”... I said, “So you want me to put words on your bio page but not in your mouth.”... “Just say some nice things about me and my music,” he said... “I need you to just do this little favor for me.”
(By now you already know a fair amount about Daniel)
“Do you have some sort of a résumé for me to use as a guide? Any credentials… a little history about yourself,” I asked. “Not really” he said. “Just say some nice things about me and my music.”
Truth be told, most of the folks who are acquainted with Daniel, myself included, all knew him as a Horseman and a Farrier (Horseshoer), and we were all surprised when we came to learn that he had any interest at all in creating and performing music. Turns out that he had fooled around with playing music in his youth and had given it up as a result of getting involved in the horse business. I can only imagine that his whole history of life in the horse business is probably a long and colorfully dubious affair. If you want to know more about that you’ll have to ask him yourself.
In any event, as he tells me, a few years ago he got interested again in the doings of music. He began to resurrect some of his old songs. (Rewriting most of them) He started to create some new material. And above all, he spent quite a lot of time simply working to improve his skill with his instruments, and his comfort with his voice. He is inclined to express reservations about both aspects of his performance, but to my ears he sounds ever so pleasant. I suppose you’ll have to give him a listen for yourself and come to your own conclusions.
So there you have it. I said something nice about Daniel and his music.
He once told me that his daughter had suggested that his music was all much too serious and that he needed to lighten up a bit, and so he did, by creating a song that he calls “Charlotte”. (Not his daughter's name by the way) You’ll have to ask him to play it for you sometime. It’s a hoot.
Back to the issue of seriousness now. He one time told me of listening to an artist perform... It was the first year he attended the Sisters Folk Festival. Apparently she said... “it is time for us to stop playing the songs that people want to hear and start playing the songs that people need to hear.” Daniel reflected that... “at first glance this sounded like an admirable endeavor, but the more I considered the proposition it seemed presumptuous of me to assume that I should know best what others might need to hear." (Now there’s a serious sentence for you!!!)... He continued, "As it all sorts out, I do not sing songs that others need to hear. I sing the songs that I need to hear.”
All in all, Daniel seems to be more and more busy with accommodating his artistic schedule…playing a longer list of appearances every year. I know this primarily because it is becoming more and more difficult to get him out to shoe my horses. He tells me that he will never cease to shoe horses, but I sometimes wonder… As he continues to evolve into the arts community I sense him smiling… more and more.
A friend of Daniel’s