1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,880 All right. 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:06,680 Welcome back. 3 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:08,800 You're on the Dan Time podcast. 4 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:10,760 I'm your host, Dan McCardell. 5 00:00:11,120 --> 00:00:14,920 If this is your first time checking out the show, I'm so happy you're here. 6 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:17,080 You're in the right place. 7 00:00:17,580 --> 00:00:21,360 I don't always reintroduce the premise of this show, the meaning of Dan Time. 8 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,720 So let me take a moment to bring it back front and center for 9 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:26,120 those of you just joining us. 10 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:30,600 Every week, I bring you a new guest, somebody who is making a difference, 11 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:35,440 making an impact, changing the world around them for the better and somebody 12 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:36,840 who I think that you ought to hear about. 13 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:41,680 The one thing that most of them have in common is that they're all like me, 14 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:42,680 named Dan. 15 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:48,760 Now, very few of us were actually named Dan at birth, although I've met one kid 16 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:52,840 who was absolutely named after one of the 12 tribes of Israel. 17 00:00:53,160 --> 00:00:54,440 Not everybody's a Dan. 18 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,880 As you may have noticed, I've had a Chris, a Vic, and of course, Jim Powell. 19 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,800 On a show like this, we've got to mix it up in order to avoid 20 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:05,280 what I like to call Dan Fatigue. 21 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:07,320 We've had a Danny. 22 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:12,080 We will have your traditional Daniel at some point and coming soon, we will 23 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:14,720 have at least one Danielle. 24 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:17,000 This is not a boys club. 25 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:21,200 The facts of the matter is I've just not been able to confirm a female guest to 26 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:22,880 date, but I'm working on it. 27 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,960 If your name is Danielle and you've been listening and you're thinking, 28 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:28,000 geez, Dan, why didn't you say something? 29 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:30,080 I've been waiting for the invitation. 30 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:32,480 Well, I've said it now. 31 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:35,960 So reach out to DanTimePod at gmail.com. 32 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:39,560 If you'd like to come on the show, regardless of your first name. 33 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:41,640 So that's the general theme. 34 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,760 Want to leave you thinking, laughing, and hopefully inspired. 35 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:49,720 Today, my very special guest is Dan Harrison. 36 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,680 Dan is a Nashville based singer songwriter who fell in love with the 37 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:58,840 South and country music while attending college at Wake Forest in North Carolina. 38 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:03,880 Dan songs touch on themes like new experiences, falling in love, going for 39 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,920 something you've been thinking about for a while, pressing play, giving it a shot. 40 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:10,680 Jumping in, being confident in yourself. 41 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:15,640 And he connects places, textures, sights, and smells of the South, 42 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:17,880 which are very unique to memories. 43 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:20,920 Dan's vocals really have an effortless quality and charm. 44 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:23,480 His choruses carry you to another level. 45 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:27,680 I could do an entire segment just on the single nowhere bar. 46 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:32,080 I think this should have been a number one hit back when it came out in 2019. 47 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:36,160 When you hear Dan sing Carolina at about the two and a half minute mark, 48 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:37,440 I think you'll know what I mean. 49 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:40,080 His songs are just optimistic. 50 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:44,040 A lot of good stuff on the radio right now, but not quite what Dan's offering. 51 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:47,360 And what I mean by that is you'll be able to hear his songs on the radio 52 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,400 and what I mean by that is you'll hear some downer songs when you're driving 53 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,280 around that don't really have a takeaway at the end. 54 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,600 So you're thinking, all right, I don't really feel a lot better 55 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:58,120 than I did when that song started. 56 00:02:58,920 --> 00:03:01,960 Dan's singles on the other hand, they've usually got a good spin 57 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:03,840 to every situation he describes. 58 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:09,400 Like in running out of radio, we might run out of cash, out of gas, out of time, 59 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:12,480 but we'll never be running out of radio. 60 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:17,560 Dan was awarded the 2023 ASCAP Harold Adamson Lyric Award for country music. 61 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:22,080 His song Friendly Fire won the 2021 ASCAP Jay Gourney Award 62 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:25,640 and 2022 Bluebird Cafe Golden Pick Award. 63 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:31,000 Dan has released music as both a solo artist and as part of the duo Salem Town. 64 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:35,120 His songs have been featured on Spotify's New Boots and Wild Country, 65 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,360 Next from Nashville, Fresh Finds and Fresh Finds Country. 66 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,600 He's also got songwriting credits on the viral TikTok song, 67 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:47,800 All Hat, No Cowboy by Bells, which has hit four million views. 68 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:51,040 All right. The new single is We Went South. 69 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:53,920 You can download it on any music platform. 70 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:57,360 It appeared on Spotify's New Music Friday playlist 71 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,480 when it was released September 15th. 72 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:04,240 Now, whatever genre that you're really into when you hear this song, 73 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,920 I really think that you're going to feel like you got an advanced copy of something 74 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:10,560 that the rest of the world just doesn't know about yet. 75 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:15,840 Follow Dan on social media, on Instagram, X, Facebook, 76 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,200 and you can find the video to this song and any other singles. 77 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,760 All right. Let's hear some of the new song We Went South 78 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:24,920 and then get to my conversation with Dan. 79 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:38,440 Folks, it is Dan Harrison Dime. 80 00:04:54,920 --> 00:05:03,440 We were looking for something better, didn't want to waste any more time. 81 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:09,640 Never thought that we'd find our forever if we stuck around. 82 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:18,440 So that's why we went south on the interstate headed straight for that small town. 83 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:22,160 Didn't know where we'd lead, but I guess we know now 84 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,640 cause we found a picket fence and a patch of ground to settle down. 85 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:30,160 Planted roots down in that dirt, thank God how things turned out. 86 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:38,680 When we went south, yeah we went south. 87 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:48,920 Didn't have us a whole lot of money, all we knew was we were chasing a dream. 88 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:54,600 With the magnolia trees and honey so sweet, 89 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:57,960 we found everything we'd ever need. 90 00:05:57,960 --> 00:05:59,960 When we went south. 91 00:05:59,960 --> 00:06:03,080 All right folks, well I am just thrilled today to bring to you 92 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:07,160 Nashville based singer songwriter, Dan Harrison. 93 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:09,160 Dan, thanks so much for joining the show. 94 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,640 Thank you so much for having me, Dan. Appreciate it. 95 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,200 Everybody, I want you to know something. 96 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:17,880 Dan Harrison is another example, just like last week, 97 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,680 of somebody that I really want to have on the show. 98 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,360 He's got a story that's a little bit outside the box. 99 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,560 He's a country music artist, but he's not your typical 100 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:30,680 born and raised in the south singer songwriter. 101 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:34,920 Dan, I'll stop there and just kind of let you introduce yourself to the listeners, 102 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:39,560 where you came from, how you got interested in music, and where you are today. 103 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:42,600 Yeah, no thanks man. I appreciate it again you having me on the show. 104 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,960 It's very cool. I was telling this to someone yesterday actually like 105 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:47,960 I feel like I don't know that many Dan's. 106 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:50,120 I grew up like, I think I was the only Dan that I knew. 107 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:54,440 There was another kid I grew up with named Dan, but he went by a different name. 108 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:56,600 So I love the concept of this podcast. 109 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:00,440 I just wanted to say, you know, there's Dan's doing great things out there. 110 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:05,800 But yeah, no, so yeah, I'm living in Nashville and I've been here a little over five years. 111 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:08,200 Originally from Philadelphia by way of Los Angeles. 112 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,400 I was born in LA and I moved to Philly when I was about five. 113 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:14,680 I still have a lot of family on the west coast though, and I love going over there. 114 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:20,120 But grew up in Philly and went to college down in North Carolina, Wake Forest, Go Deeks. 115 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:23,800 You know, made my way over here after that, after a couple years back home, 116 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:28,680 and then came down here to Nashville. So that's the quick overview of it. 117 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:33,720 Now, Dan, did your mom or your dad play an instrument in the house or your brothers or sisters? 118 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,320 Yeah, I have two younger brothers. So not formally. 119 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:40,760 Had a piano in the house and my parents forced piano lessons on me when I was a kid. 120 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:43,400 And I really, really wish I stuck with them. 121 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:48,120 You know, but it's, I guess, different when you come to it yourself versus it's forced on you. 122 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:51,880 But I definitely understand the value in that now. 123 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:55,240 But no, my parents were always musical. My dad was self-taught. 124 00:07:55,240 --> 00:08:00,200 And he had some depth tapes, I think, from back when he was a kid in the 70s and 80s 125 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:04,280 that he recorded on cassette probably. And he had the dream of that. 126 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:06,600 But I don't think it's ever something he seriously pursued. 127 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:10,200 And my mom liked to sing. But there was no family band situation. 128 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:16,200 Even though technically all of us are musical and both of my brothers separately are very talented. 129 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:21,080 My middle brother is a very talented drummer and DJ and kind of electronic music producer. 130 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:24,360 My youngest brother is also a great guitar player and songwriter. 131 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:28,760 He's kind of in a different space. He's like indie rock and jam stuff. 132 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:33,240 But we all have musical things. And we joked about the family band thing. 133 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:37,480 But it wasn't ever in the cards for us. But yeah, so definitely music was always a big 134 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:42,200 part of my life from as long as I can remember. Certainly appreciating it. 135 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:47,960 The stuff that my dad would listen to in the car growing up, I remember like it was yesterday. 136 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:52,280 RG Now, did you have somebody maybe in high school or around that time period 137 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:55,880 who was encouraging you? Maybe an older person saying, 138 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:58,520 hey, you got something there. You need to follow up on that. 139 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:04,040 JG Yeah, I mean, my parents were always very supportive and encouraging once I came to it on my own. 140 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:07,160 And I had friends in late middle school, early high school getting into guitar. 141 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:11,320 And I was like, well, that's pretty cool. And they were the ones showing me like 142 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,840 Jimi Hendrix, ACDC, Van Halen Queen, and stuff like that. 143 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:18,040 And they were playing. I'd never seen an electric guitar. My dad had an acoustic guitar. 144 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,760 I thought it was cool, but it was like a little it felt like very old school. 145 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:24,760 And then my buddy got one of those Squier strap packs, those like really cheap, 146 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:29,480 like kind of starter kits. And I was over one day and I was like, that was that looks awesome. 147 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:33,960 I want to do whatever that is. And he was like, smoke on the water or something simple now. 148 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:37,160 Like, yeah, that's kind of so I kind of got encouragement from there. 149 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:41,560 And I had some great music teachers in the school at the school that I went to. 150 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:46,920 And then I probably annoyed the crap. In fact, I know I did this new to laying and stuff like that. 151 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:51,880 I did jazz band and and took music theory and music history stuff and just very 152 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:56,440 it wasn't really specific to guitar, but it was just generally encouraging music. 153 00:09:56,440 --> 00:10:01,160 And then I had obviously guitar teachers that once I like told my parents, I was like serious about it. 154 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:06,280 And I'm still connected to some of them and they're and they're great and really were really helpful. 155 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:12,360 Now, was there a time where so you you enroll at Wake Forest in North Carolina? 156 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:17,880 Did it come down to like two or three schools and you might have stayed up north or gone west or done 157 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:22,280 something and the story might may have been different? You know, I asked I think about that 158 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,800 sometimes. It's definitely possible. Wake was an early decision school for me. 159 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:29,640 So that's where I went. And that's where I applied first. And that was it. 160 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:34,040 But I looked at a number of other schools. I thought about Berkeley, but I didn't. 161 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:38,360 I ran back pretty seriously in high school and wanted to in college and they did not have sports 162 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:43,720 team and sports teams, I think, of any kind. So I didn't want to go north and be in a city. 163 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:47,960 So I Berkeley was kind of off the table there. And I hadn't heard about Belmont or MTSU, 164 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:52,360 which I'm not sure if I'm really with those schools, but two fantastic schools in the Nashville area 165 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:58,600 that are hugely, hugely influential in the music industry here and beyond in terms of kind of the 166 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:03,320 programs that they have and the people that have come out of there, you know, both on the business 167 00:11:03,320 --> 00:11:07,400 and creative side for the industry, just at hearty for one of them, you know, from MTSU. 168 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:11,240 Brad Paisley went to Belmont. I mean, the list is just ridiculous from both of those schools. 169 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:14,520 They pretty much run this town, which I always thought put me at a disadvantage, but 170 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:19,000 thankfully it doesn't. And I feel like most of my friends anyway that I made here went to those 171 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:23,800 schools. So I kind of feel like I went there anyway without having gone there. But no, I mean, 172 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:28,360 it's possible I could have gone somewhere else. I thought about the West Coast to warmer weather, 173 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:33,160 but I just fell in love with Wake as an overall school. I always wanted to do music, but I still 174 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:37,880 wasn't at that stage that I was like, oh no, this is exactly what I'm doing. I thought like I would 175 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:41,640 just go to school and figure it out and then maybe do music after. And I just really wanted to have 176 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:46,680 the best college experience and learn and obviously athletically and academically. 177 00:11:46,680 --> 00:11:52,040 And I'm very happy with my pick. I don't know, I might've still ended up here, but I don't know 178 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:55,880 when I would have ended up here or how exactly. It definitely wouldn't have happened the same way. 179 00:11:55,880 --> 00:12:01,880 And I might've not been exposed to country music the way I was and when I was and as it affected me. 180 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:06,680 So who knows? Yeah. Well, that's a great time. Everyone can usually remember, 181 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:12,200 and it's usually the college years, the college age years where you have that crossroads or you 182 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:18,680 meet certain people or you have a girlfriend at the time that influences you in one way or another. 183 00:12:18,680 --> 00:12:24,200 But Dan, so I understand that at Wake Forest around that time period, you figure out that 184 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:29,480 you like some country songs, some country music, maybe it's a relationship that you're in and you're 185 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:34,840 just hearing a lot of it. Take me back to some of those days. Yeah. I mean, that's pretty much, 186 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:38,840 you know, that on the head, like it was just being down there at that time. I went to school, 187 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:46,680 I graduated from Wake in 2015. And just around that time is Eric Church was kind of really big. 188 00:12:46,680 --> 00:12:51,480 FGL was coming up those couple of years beforehand, Sam Hunt, Jake Owen, Zach Brown, 189 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:55,880 a lot of those guys were like the big thing at the time Bro Country was starting. And you know, 190 00:12:55,880 --> 00:13:00,440 whatever you like or don't or dislike about it, there were things about it that caught my ear. 191 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:04,920 And it was just what was a lot of my friends were playing, like, you know, driving around in their 192 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:09,960 trucks because going around school then. And I also was dating a girl at the time that I met 193 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:15,000 down there who was did the student booking for concerts on campus. I'll never forget Josh Thompson, 194 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:19,320 who is a huge songwriter here now. He wrote Any Old Barstool for Jason Aldean, a lot of stuff for 195 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:24,600 Thomas Rhett. He was an artist at that point. And he has one project out, but it's like one of my 196 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:28,760 favorite records. And it was one of the first records I listened to called Way Out Here. He 197 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:33,240 came to campus on his fall tour my freshman year. And I remember seeing him and I was, you know, 198 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:38,600 just floored. And my girlfriend at the time, you know, I'd done some open mics on campus. And, 199 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,280 you know, after we met, she's like, you really, you really should do country music. And it just 200 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:48,280 never occurred to me that, you know, growing up doing rock and singer songwriter stuff, like I love 201 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:55,400 John Mayer, Springsteen, the Eagles, Queen, there's a lot of like rock, pop, to a certain extent, 202 00:13:55,400 --> 00:14:02,200 blues, jazz, well, it all goes back to the blues, actually. So rock, country, jazz, all that stuff. 203 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:07,240 They're all siblings going back to the blues. So there's a lot of overlap. And when you think of 204 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:12,520 like the Heartland rock guys like Mellencamp or Springsteen, and then the Eagles, there's a lot 205 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:19,080 of country crossover and influence there. So it's a natural fit once you find artists within that 206 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:22,920 genre that you like. And so that's kind of what it was for me. I just found artists that I resonated 207 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:27,080 with that I hadn't been exposed to growing up. Because where I grew up, just people didn't listen 208 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:31,320 to country music as much. And even though I now know there's a massive radio station in the 209 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:36,760 Philadelphia area, 92.5 XTU, that serves that whole region. It's one of the biggest country 210 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:42,840 stations in the country. So yeah, it was definitely just like being in a totally new place like 211 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:47,960 Wake Forest in North Carolina. Just culture. I wouldn't say culture shock, but it was just very 212 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:53,880 much a time of change and experiencing new things. And it was awesome. And it was really 213 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,920 hugely formative, I think, for me to where I am now in a lot of ways. 214 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:03,400 Yeah, it seems like you're really starting to find yourself. And I can relate to seeing a band 215 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:11,080 perform live that is a little bit outside of my box, so to speak. And you maybe get dragged to a 216 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:15,400 bar or something. You're like, I don't really care about this band or this opening act. And then you 217 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:20,680 hear them and you're like, maybe I was missing something here. And I think there might be a 218 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:28,120 misnomer with some people with modern country music, that everybody on the stage is of a similar 219 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:33,480 background. And you could probably speak to this. It really couldn't be further from the truth. 220 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:40,120 If you look at a drummer, a bass player, the singer, the main songwriter on stage, 221 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:46,200 all four of those people might primarily listen to a different type of music, but they all coalesce 222 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:53,000 to create that sound. Yeah, no, I think the reality is my generation, which is give or take 223 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:58,280 a few years, kind of generation that's making waves and starting to be at the forefront of the 224 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:04,760 industry. We grew up with country as well as rock and hip hop and other influences. John Mayer, 225 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:09,160 for example, is I think a huge, just anybody that has picked up a guitar since he existed. 226 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:15,480 Kind of like with Taylor for girls too. But I like a lot of Taylor Swift's original country stuff as 227 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:20,600 well. And I'm sure it was some amazing writers here. But I think that it's only natural that, 228 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:24,280 because really genre is just something that was created for marketing purposes and for radio. And 229 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:28,280 like I said, all these genres are brothers and they're siblings, sisters, whatever you want to 230 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:34,200 call it. So it's really, take Hardy, for example, like he's like literally like doing metal now. 231 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:39,800 And that's what his whole record, his recent record was about this two sides of him, the mockingbird 232 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:44,680 and the crow. The crow is like the darker side, the metal side that he was as a kid, his kid growing 233 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:48,360 up. And that was very influential to him. But then the mockingbird is like the country thing. 234 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:53,480 That's the other side of him. And I really identify with that in terms of country is the 235 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:57,880 foundation for what I do. And it's my passion and I love it. And it's the centering focus for me. 236 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:03,960 But there's so many other great things to blend in. And I think that most country musicians will 237 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:09,000 find nowadays have more diverse tastes and interests than you would expect because there's 238 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:15,640 just no boundaries, no genres. I think streaming's done a lot with that too, in terms of you can have 239 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:20,120 a hip hop song and a country song on the same playlist, and then a jazz song. And it's all 240 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:26,040 Duke Ellington has a famous quote that I believe is attributed to him that says there's only two 241 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:32,440 types of music good and bad. And I think that's really what comes down to. But by that same token, 242 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:36,920 a lot of big artists aren't necessarily from the South. I mean, look at Keith Urban, he's from, 243 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:41,880 well, he is from the South. He's from way, way South Australia. But then there's plenty of, 244 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:45,960 you know, Shania Twain's Canadian. I met more Canadians in my life than Nashville than probably, 245 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:49,880 I don't know if I even knew a single Canadian before I moved here. And there's so many down 246 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:53,480 here that come down to write their songs, record their songs, and because there's a whole market 247 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:59,880 up there. And the UK and I know the Nordic countries are very much growing in terms of their 248 00:17:59,880 --> 00:18:03,800 appetite for the country market. And Ed Sheeran, you know, has done some collaborations with 249 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:07,560 Luke Combs, and he loves country music. He's talked about coming to record a record here. 250 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:13,560 He has cuts with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill himself as a songwriter. So there's a song by 251 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:19,240 Brantley Gilbert, which might have been his first hit. And I love that song. And I think it's so 252 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:23,800 true. It's Country Must Be Countrywide. And I would even amend it to say Country Must Be Worldwide, 253 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:31,240 because I think once people give it a chance, I think country is what rock used to be 40 years 254 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:35,800 ago. You know, Tom Petty, the Eagles, Jackson Brown, all that stuff. But then you also had stuff 255 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:40,920 like the Beach Boys and all the way to like harder stuff, maybe like ACDC and even up to metal and 256 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:45,960 Metallica. Country is this like foundation that a lot of other genres are playing around in. 257 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:50,760 And you can add different like sub genres of country. Like Sam Hunt is country as is George 258 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:56,120 Strait, but they are not the same kinds of country. But they can both exist and they both have fans 259 00:18:56,120 --> 00:19:00,200 that call themselves country music fans. Fans that can like both or maybe just like one of them. 260 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:06,520 And I just think there's this great ability to honor its roots and also widen its appeal, 261 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:11,080 that country, the space that it's in right now. So it's kind of a long-winded answer to your 262 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:15,080 to your question, but in agreeing with your statement rather, agreeing with you. 263 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:23,080 Well, just like you said, that's a great quote. And a good song is just a good song. And we live 264 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:29,800 in a really diversified culture much more so than the country music scene in the 1990s. 265 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:35,720 Yes. Which seems like not that long ago, kind of was, but it was. Yeah. 266 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:41,000 There's a lot more opportunity to reach different types of people with your music. 267 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:46,440 And people are curious and they've got access and they're on Spotify and they can accidentally 268 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:52,760 stumble upon something. And if it's a good song, you know, you just might grab somebody who wasn't 269 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:58,200 an easy mark for your sound. And I see that in some of, you know, I might be jumping ahead a 270 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:04,760 little bit here, but with the Salem Town project that you and Patrick Cornell have put together, 271 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:10,360 just some of the songs, some of the themes, some of the artwork, it kind of speaks to a new audience. 272 00:20:10,360 --> 00:20:15,880 Yeah, that was a very fun project that we did. We talked about how, you know, there was Bro Country 273 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,160 and all these different kinds of country. We kind of called it Beat Country because we were, 274 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:25,160 it was sort of Patrick's idea initially to kind of fuse these EDM kind of dance elements and 275 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:32,360 electronic elements and even more poppier elements with country music that I hadn't even 276 00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:37,480 thought about going that far. And doing it in a duo was kind of like a safe way to be able to do 277 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:42,120 that separately from my solo project. And I learned a lot from it. It was a really great 278 00:20:42,120 --> 00:20:47,320 experience and love the songs that we made and put out. It's stuff that I might have never done 279 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:52,760 as myself, but helped me grow a lot as a writer and an artist. And I think when I describe Salem 280 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:57,880 Town to people, I basically say like it's chain smokers if they did country music. So that's, 281 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:04,840 I think it's another example of the kind of diversity sonically that you can have in country 282 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:11,160 music, but it still feels like country and it's the lyrics certainly and the vocal delivery, 283 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:16,920 but it can be dressed up in a lot of different ways. Now I want to talk about some of your solo 284 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:25,400 material which you're here to promote. And the new single is We Went South. Folks go on Spotify, 285 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:31,480 go on Apple Music, download it. Trust me on this one, download one Dan Harrison track. And when you 286 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:37,080 hear one, you're going to want to hear them all. Dan, one thing about We Went South, and I could 287 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:42,360 kind of carve this up a lot of different ways, but I did go back and listen to the back catalog and 288 00:21:42,360 --> 00:21:48,840 I see some real growth. The Dan Harrison package, I guess. What you have on display in the video 289 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:55,160 and We Went South is just a guy, in my opinion, that has kind of that every guy appeal. You look 290 00:21:55,160 --> 00:22:01,320 like you're having fun. Your music, I feel like it taps into a feeling, an emotion, connects people 291 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:07,480 with places and memories. Talk a little bit about where you were on your writing and recording, 292 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:13,240 no where bar, running out of radio, and then flash forward to the new stuff. Well, the reality is, 293 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:17,320 is that stuff is, it might be new to your ears in terms of the recording and being out there, 294 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:22,360 but it's not actually, it was kind of written around a similar time. I think I wrote We Went 295 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:27,480 South in 2021, it was early 2021, but some of the songs on the project of which We Went South is a 296 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:33,400 part, I'm putting out a bunch of new music over the next year that that song was the first single 297 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:39,240 from, was written as early as 2019, kind of around the time that that other stuff was put out. All 298 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:43,560 of this stuff has, I moved to Nashville in April 2018, so everything has been written since I moved 299 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:49,080 here, but some of the stuff that's coming out is fairly, I should say, it's not old, but it's not 300 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:54,520 like recently written. And so that's just the kind of the funny thing with music that sometimes 301 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:58,600 things take a while to get out. Sometimes they happen, it happens pretty quickly. But in terms 302 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:05,080 of the process, I mean, the goal, I love writing and I love telling stories. I love, and to me, 303 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:09,080 it's always been the best way to communicate my thoughts and expressions and emotions in a way 304 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:13,400 that can connect to people, because people's attention spans are short, and I just love the 305 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:19,320 way music has this capacity to heighten the message or an emotion that you want to convey. 306 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:24,520 And it can really hit people in a way that they might not have really processed otherwise, 307 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:27,400 if someone just told it to them or they saw it through some other medium. 308 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:32,280 And now the side note is that sometimes you can hear a song in the wrong context and it won't hit 309 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:36,600 you and then you hear it again another time, like later in the day or something, or at a show and 310 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:41,320 you're like, whoa, that song's amazing. And you realize you'd heard it earlier, but that's another 311 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:47,480 piece. But yeah, so We Went South was just me wanting to tell my story. I mean, this project, 312 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:53,240 the goal of this project was to have some songs that kind of talked about who I am and how I got 313 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:58,760 to where I was. So that song, that's an expression, we went south or things went south. Usually that's 314 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:03,800 a negative thing. But I kind of wanted to turn that on its head and talk about the story of what 315 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:09,960 got me to Nashville. I tried to avoid using specific music industry or rock star musician 316 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:14,840 imagery and language, because I find that those songs can sometimes pigeonhole you and people 317 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:20,920 can't always relate to, they just seem cheesy. But I think everyone can, not that there isn't a 318 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:25,800 place, time and place for certain songs like that. But I think this song needed to be bigger than 319 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:30,600 that. And so we couched it and people, everyone's had to move somewhere for a fresh start or chase 320 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:35,560 a dream. And, you know, we're like taking a leap of faith. And that's kind of what that song was 321 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:39,880 about. And I knew like two people here when I moved here. And I slept on a friend's couch for 322 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:44,600 the first two weeks and, you know, didn't know anything. And not that I know everything now, 323 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:51,240 but I know five years worth more worth of things. And it's just amazing to see when I look back on 324 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,120 what I've done in the last five years, and just gets me really excited about what I'm going to do 325 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:59,640 in the next five. So I love the theme of the song, because 10 years ago, I took a shot, I moved to 326 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:06,200 Pensacola, Florida. And I didn't know anybody except you went south to I went south to you. 327 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:13,160 And, you know, I just I maybe knew my girlfriend's friend, and then the guy that she was dating, 328 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:18,040 and then I didn't know anybody after we broke up. And, but it was all good. So I really like the 329 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:24,280 theme of this song. I like how descriptive that your story is. And one of the lines that sticks 330 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:34,760 out to me is didn't want to waste any more time. People can relate to that where they've been 331 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:39,800 sitting on an idea, whether man, I want to move to Nashville, man, I really want to move 332 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:44,920 to Atlanta, I got friends in Atlanta, or like me down to the Gulf Coast. And you feel like you've 333 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:50,120 spent five or six years chewing on it. Just want to tell my listeners, if you've got that bug in 334 00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:57,080 your ear, or you you've got that dream, go follow it. It's never too late, even if you're 2535 or 335 00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:03,320 45. Yeah, it's definitely never too late. And it's never going to go away until you until you do it. 336 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:09,400 I think in our first couple messages with each other, I told you the songs that I liked, and 337 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:16,520 the nowhere bar track in particular, and the video. The video is just a blast. Take me through, I 338 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:21,880 wanted to ask you a question as far as making videos. It looks like you're having fun. It must 339 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:28,440 be a lot of work. Are you having as much fun as it looks like? Yeah, I think I think I am in the 340 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,480 moment. Sometimes it can be stressful because you want to make sure you get the shot or you're not 341 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:37,160 running out of daylight. And, and so you know, I'm not I'm not a trained actor, although I definitely 342 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:42,920 that definitely is in my family. And I want to take some acting classes, I think. But it's 343 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,520 definitely a lot. It's always fun. It's especially when you have friends there. That was the funnest 344 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:49,880 part about the nowhere bar videos. I had a lot of friends there, you know, kind of in the crowd in 345 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:54,360 the bar scene. So yeah, we made it look like it was at night because you know, this were the way 346 00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:59,080 the sun was. But it was it was actually really early in the morning because I was the bar before 347 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:04,440 anyone was in. So it was we were all very tired. But it was it was a fun time. So yeah, it's making 348 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:09,160 those are always fun, especially when you have a fun concept behind it. Everybody can be brought 349 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:13,000 back to that moment, you know, whether it happened last weekend, and you're wondering what happened, 350 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:17,160 if you should have said something different to that girl that you met or what, or if it happened 351 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:22,600 10 years ago, everybody's got an experience like that. Well, that was the hope. And I appreciate 352 00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:29,640 that. That was, it's funny that that video was made and so DIY and four or five years ago, and I'm 353 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:36,920 proud of it. But it's just to see the growth is fun, too. It's one I very look back on it very 354 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:43,160 fondly. And but also, it's a very clear metric of like how how far I've come and still am going, 355 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:50,280 I think, in a good way. Exactly. And you put that head to head with We Went South or crazy about 356 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:55,160 country, crazy about country. I really like this song, Dan, I play drums. And one of the first 357 00:27:55,160 --> 00:28:02,200 things I noticed was, my gosh, listen that drum sound. Yeah, that's all my producer or the producer 358 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:07,960 of that song, Robbie. He's killer, man. I mean, my co writing my co writers, other co writers on that 359 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:12,520 song, Adam sick learn at least you low, they help with production as well. So that's that's I got 360 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:17,480 to give them credit for that they found the right sounds and Robbie put it all together and mixed 361 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:23,640 it too and just made it really hit and sound great. Some of the lyrics to this is where I feel like I 362 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:29,880 can connect a little bit with your story. I didn't grow up listening to country music. So some of 363 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:35,720 these lyrics speak to me. Sometimes it takes a girlfriend or accidentally hearing something to 364 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:41,160 get into the genre. I just happened to be in a workplace where two guys were playing Pandora 365 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:49,560 all day long. And it was it was only Kenny Chesney channel or Jason Aldean or Eric Church station or 366 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:55,160 something like that. And so I was kind of force fed a lot of this music the first week. And then 367 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:59,240 I finally I don't know what song it was. It may have been Zack Brown band, it may have been 368 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:03,960 something like knee deep, because I do like Jimmy Buffett. I thought, okay, that's all right. And 369 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:08,360 then I just, you know, it just got into my diet a little bit more. And I started to listen a little 370 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:14,920 deeper to the music. And that was a big turning point for me, where I realized, you don't have to 371 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:20,840 box yourself in to just rock, just hip hop, that sort of thing. So yeah, what did you kind of have 372 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:26,680 that in mind right in this song? Well, again, you know, this this song I put out in March, and it 373 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:33,720 was, I kind of consider it sort of like the sister song or the part that B side to to know her bar 374 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:39,960 both sonically and kind of in story in some ways. But it was just again, telling the story about how 375 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:46,840 I kind of got into country music. And it was because of a girl. And that was definitely 376 00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:52,840 the goal to show like, hey, like, yeah, this is not what I started with. But I really connected 377 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:58,280 with it. And here's why. And so hopefully that I got that across. But there's obviously like other 378 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:03,320 other musical influences in there, too. The biggest key for me, whatever I'm doing is authenticity. 379 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:07,400 And I'm never going to pretend to be something I'm not. I love country music. And I'm a fan. And 380 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:13,240 I'm a country music artist. That doesn't mean I was born on a farm raised on a farm, anything 381 00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:18,920 like that. And, and I and I'm very clear about that. So hopefully that's clear. But but the the 382 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:26,440 passion and, and sort of intensity of, of how much I care about the genre is still clear. And you 383 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:32,600 don't have to have been born and raised on a farm or, you know, to appreciate and relate to country 384 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:39,560 music. Absolutely. Like we were saying earlier, it's okay to step in, even though your last memory 385 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:43,960 of trying out country music didn't go so well, or you didn't feel like you fit in. Give it another 386 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:48,840 shot. If you're listening to this episode, look up Dan's catalog. Dan, one one other thing I wanted 387 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:56,040 to mention here is that you do have songwriting credits. All Hat No Cowboy by Bells. Talk about 388 00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:01,800 that one a little bit. That's got what 4 million downloads? Yeah, it's got it went viral on TikTok 389 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:06,920 big time for her for Kelly and her project. And that was a super fun song to write. That was just 390 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,680 one of those songs that came together pretty quickly. In the room, I wrote it with actually 391 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:14,680 my producer and who produced all the stuff we went south and all the stuff that's coming out. And he 392 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:21,160 also wrote No War Bar with me back in the day. And it was just a lot of fun. It was me, him and Kelly 393 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:25,640 who's Bells and was actually on zoom. It was during the pandemic. And that was our first write 394 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:31,160 together. I had never met Kelly in person, but I'd obviously known Andrew for a while. And we got 395 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:37,320 set up on the right. And I think we, Andrew and I had talked about this idea at some point before, 396 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:42,200 and she just liked it and thought it was funny because we were just talking about how I had just 397 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,800 mentioned earlier in this conversation, in our conversation that about authenticity, 398 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:50,920 because of the tourist kind of thing here that Nashville has now is big business. And you know, 399 00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:55,880 a lot you can you can tell tourists a mile away if they're most of the time if they're wearing, 400 00:31:55,880 --> 00:32:02,040 you know, cowboy hat and just really overt kind of like country apparel and or they're on Broadway 401 00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:07,320 and matching stuff like so there's a lot of like counterfeit cowboy like I like to call it. And 402 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:11,320 that's kind of what that song was about was just calling out is meant to be fun and lighthearted. 403 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:17,640 It's not really like bad to do that. But just to show that there's a difference. The boots don't 404 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:22,600 make the man as they say, which is another song title that I've written. But that was yeah, that 405 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:26,440 was kind of idea and we just kind of came together pretty quickly in the session. And it was a ton of 406 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:32,280 fun and Kelly killed it song song sounds great. And it's been a very big song for her in terms 407 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:38,040 of the doors. It's open and we're very thankful for that. Well, Dan, when you're spending a few 408 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:42,040 years writing these songs, recording these songs, putting a lot of your heart and soul into it, 409 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:47,240 what are what are some things that you do day to day week to week to just keep your head in the 410 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:53,720 game? You know, you haven't blown up across the globe yet. And you've got high aspirations, 411 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:59,800 big dreams. Do you have to keep yourself motivated or you just you know, hey, man, 412 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:05,320 I'm having fun doing this and whatever happens next is great. It's a bit of both. I mean, 413 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:09,000 I like to say my worst day in Nashville better than my best day anywhere else, 414 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,360 which is true. But that doesn't mean there's still aren't fun things or you know, 415 00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:16,360 there's always there's always tough things even when you're even if you're chasing your 416 00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:20,680 dream or in your dream job, there's stuff that isn't fun. And sometimes you can get overwhelmed. 417 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:24,440 You know, when I first started moving here, when I first moved here, I was writing two and three 418 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:28,600 times a day, you know, we take about anywhere from two to four hours for a writing session. So do the 419 00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:32,200 math. You know, part of that's like the 10,000 hours, you know, you got to put in the time and 420 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:37,160 I only written like maybe less than a dozen songs before I moved to town. It's just not something I 421 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:42,200 thought about or did. I knew that's why I moved here. I knew I need to be the best artist I could 422 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:47,000 be I needed to be the best songwriter I could be. And I just hadn't found my voice literally and 423 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:52,040 figuratively. Because I just didn't it's just not the culture and the thing that I was surrounded 424 00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:57,400 by and even knew about. It was amazing to get to get the opportunity to kind of like workshop and 425 00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:02,520 put in all those hours. But eventually got to a point where I was getting burned out and you got 426 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:06,840 to be like, hey, like, I love writing, I'm always gonna do that. But I can still write one song a 427 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:11,240 day. Sometimes I want and you know what, sometimes I don't have to write a song like that day. 428 00:34:11,240 --> 00:34:14,920 They're like today I didn't write a song I did other things that were also beneficial and 429 00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:19,800 important to my music career. Like, if I was just pursuing songwriting, that'd be one thing. But 430 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:24,440 I'm also trying to put out music under an artist project. And you know, I play guitar for other 431 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:29,480 artists as well. And there's time for social media time for learning the songs and acting like 432 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:34,920 practicing like, there's a lot of things that that I need to be doing the music also and songwriting 433 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:40,360 is an amazing thing. But if I don't give myself space from it, when I need to, it can feel like 434 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:44,520 a chore and I don't ever want it to feel like a chore. There's sometimes it's just kind of 435 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:49,480 unavoidable. But this is my passion is my dreams what I love. So I want to show up to work every 436 00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:55,880 day quote unquote, excited and I would say 99.9% of the time I am it's just you have to and for 437 00:34:55,880 --> 00:35:00,280 everyone is different. I know some friends of mine who are killing it and they and they write two and 438 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:04,120 three times a day and they love it. And that's just what they do. And it is all different. But 439 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:08,360 some of the greatest songwriters I've ever heard and know and they have huge cuts and big number 440 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:13,400 ones. They only write a couple times a week, you know, and maybe they like early on had really 441 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:18,280 front loaded and did a lot. But you know, it kind of just depends on what works for you. And for me, 442 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:23,000 I just realized that like, I need to have balance if I'm not like sleeping and not doing other 443 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:28,120 things I enjoy in my life that actually also feed the well for ideas for me to write, you know, 444 00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:33,640 nothing gets me more excited when I come up with an idea that I'm really excited to go right, 445 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:38,600 because then that just takes care of the inspiration, the vibe right away, the hardest part of the song 446 00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:42,440 is getting it started. But if you're like, oh, I just killer idea, this is how we can do it. Like 447 00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:47,720 I'm hearing this melody blah, blah, blah, that just takes so much of the work out of the way and the 448 00:35:47,720 --> 00:35:52,920 effort and it's still a process to execute the song. But that's, we all want that inspiration. 449 00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:57,080 And it's a balance of showing up to work every day. So you're keeping fresh for when inspiration 450 00:35:57,080 --> 00:36:03,240 hits and sharp, but also not dulling yourself by kind of just hammering it too much. So I think 451 00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:09,480 it's a bit of both for me is the long the short answer to to your question. So I love what I do. 452 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:15,320 I'm so blessed that I get to do it. And I hope to continue to keep growing it and get to a higher 453 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:19,640 and higher level so I don't have to do anything else to, you know, to live that I can just do this. 454 00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:24,600 And I think that was a great way of putting it where you got to be careful with your craft and 455 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:29,880 what you love, because you just don't want it to start feeling like work, never want that. And 456 00:36:29,880 --> 00:36:36,440 and so I really try and especially as I've gotten older, it's like, want to be able to enjoy life, 457 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:41,960 exercise, sleep, you know, socialize. It's all it is all it all goes together. It really does. 458 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:47,160 It feeds the well for inspiration and creativity. You know, that's and sometimes on these episodes, 459 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:52,840 I will I'll kind of hit on a very general theme. Like you just said, sleep. I think sometimes 460 00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:59,000 people who are going after something and they're just they're just hard workers in general, type A 461 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:04,280 and they feel like I can stay up till two in the morning and get back up at five. I can go 462 00:37:04,280 --> 00:37:08,600 go for a run and then I could do this. And you might be able to do that for a little while, 463 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:13,720 but you may not be at your creative best. So I like it. We said they're probably trying to pay 464 00:37:13,720 --> 00:37:19,000 attention to what you eat a little bit. Trying. Yeah. And that that that's obviously tricky. 465 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:22,280 And if you're on a budget and certainly when you're on the road, like that's the biggest thing that 466 00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:26,360 I've I've been I haven't been on the road for a super sustained period of time, but I've done a 467 00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:32,600 bunch of different runs with other bands and for you know, like just one off gigs. And it's really 468 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:38,360 hard to like maintain routine when you're on the road like that. And it's critical to find the 469 00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:43,320 things that work for you and not eat. And it's really easy to eat terribly too. So that's that's 470 00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:48,600 super important. Yeah, that was I was going to ask about that with have you had friends that stay on 471 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:52,120 the road for a few months, they come back and you don't want to say anything to them, but you're 472 00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:58,920 like, man, you kind of look look a little rough there. Or, or I mean, that I can think of in a 473 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:04,600 super noticeable way yet. But like, I just know what they tell me. And they're just exhausted. And 474 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:11,160 that's the reality. Like touring is a really great thing. But it's so hard, it is probably the 475 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:15,240 hardest thing to do. And it's sort of the last piece of the puzzle in terms of artist development, 476 00:38:15,240 --> 00:38:22,680 like to be able to go on tour and have a an enterprise that has the logistics in place, and 477 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:28,520 you know, the financial durability and that there's enough money coming in and going out to be able to 478 00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:33,720 put on something like that. There's just so many moving pieces and to do it right, you know, there's 479 00:38:33,720 --> 00:38:38,840 plenty of bands just like kind of go by the skin of their teeth. And it's about exposure, but that's 480 00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:43,960 not really the world we live in anymore. Like, of course, if you get on like a big tour as an opener, 481 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:50,040 like that's cool. But it's I think it's important to be strategic whenever you can not not in terms 482 00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:54,440 of, you know, so much so that there's decision paralysis, or you overanalyze everything. But 483 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:59,800 I've thought about that myself a lot, which is, you know, why I've tried to be careful with, 484 00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:05,800 with shows and and and part of it is also like, like you said, I haven't hit it yet. And it's 485 00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:10,680 easier to sell tickets when you have things people want to come see you. So but yeah, that's it's a 486 00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:15,320 balance either way, whatever level you're at, if you're kind of like trying to break in, or if 487 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:19,320 you're at a Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, whatever kind of level, there's still balance and things 488 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:24,120 you got to do to keep your sanity when you're on the road for that long and stay healthy, 489 00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:29,960 because it's it's not easy. Well, like I said earlier, as far as just trying to reach a broader 490 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:37,080 audience, and I've I've connected with the songs, I want to re emphasize, I'm not just saying this, 491 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:43,400 because it's another Dan on the show. And I just I'm gonna love whatever you do. Folks, when I when 492 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:48,600 I started playing these songs, I had an instant connection to them. And I was talking to Dan 493 00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:53,960 earlier, before we got started about the some of the guitar licks and nowhere bar. And I'm thinking, 494 00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:57,400 they didn't really have to do that. That was kind of cool. That was a little cool little accent 495 00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:01,400 there. And it just and then I went back and watched the videos. And I encourage everybody, 496 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:07,000 if you find a song you like, whether it's crazy about country, or we went south, pair it up 497 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:12,120 with the video, and you're gonna be wanting to hear some new music from Dan, I think Dan, 498 00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:17,640 you got the goods. And I hope that this episode helps you reach a few more people 499 00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:23,560 from across the country, maybe some people that don't even live in a hotbed area for this type 500 00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:29,320 of music. And but they've realized, I kind of like some of this stuff. Follow that feeling, 501 00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:34,280 lean into that. This is me speaking to the listeners. But Dan, we've been talking for a 502 00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:38,280 while, we could go on and on, I don't want to tie you up all night. And I would love to see you 503 00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:44,200 perform live. But I understand it is a unique challenge this day and age to pull that off. 504 00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:50,280 It's not impossible. And I play shows all the time in town. It's definitely not possible. It's just 505 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:55,480 to do you know, a tour is different from from a show, if that makes sense. But I you know, 506 00:40:55,480 --> 00:41:00,920 yeah, if you're ever in Nashville, let me know. And obviously, you know, if I'm announcing stuff 507 00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:04,760 outside, you know, going on the road, you will definitely see and whoever follows me on social 508 00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:11,000 media will see. Now I saw that you guys did play a festival this past summer, the Barefoot Country 509 00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:15,480 Music Fest. Correct, correct. Yeah, that was that was great. Because that was back in my hometown. 510 00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:19,880 Well, near near Philly, it was at the Jersey Shore. So pretty much a hometown show. And it was it was 511 00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:25,160 really awesome. That I mean, that's a whole that's, you know, flying out there and getting all that 512 00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:30,040 taken care of. So it's it's it's an endeavor, but it's obviously worth it. And to have family and 513 00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:34,680 friends come see me and it was it was great. Okay, Dan. Well, hey, I'll always wrap up with 514 00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:41,640 just some off the wall questions. Sure. Okay. Being from Philadelphia, are you rooting for the 515 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:46,840 Phillies in the playoffs? Of course, I just heard that they were in the wild card recently. I, 516 00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:51,640 you know, haven't been keeping up with it much this season. But I'm very glad, obviously. I mean, 517 00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:55,080 hopefully we can win some kind of championship this year. We were in the World Series last year 518 00:41:55,080 --> 00:42:00,120 and the MLS finals and the Super Bowl, and we didn't win a single thing. So that's always 519 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:05,240 heartbreaking. Feel like Philly sports were always like in the mix. And every now and then we get it, 520 00:42:05,240 --> 00:42:11,240 but not as much as we should. How do you feel about Travis Kelsey? I guess he and Taylor are a pair. 521 00:42:11,240 --> 00:42:14,440 Yeah, I mean, good for him. But I wish I wish he was dating his brother. So the Eagles were getting 522 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:21,560 that effect. I saw somewhere, Mark Cuban, like, sit like, I think posted on Twitter online, 523 00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:25,800 someone sent to me and said, Hey, you know, Taylor, whenever you guys break up, I got a lot of handsome 524 00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:31,800 single rich guys on the Mavericks for you. So because he owns the Dallas Mavericks. And but no, 525 00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:38,920 I think it's amazing. You know, we love her hater, you know, her her power is undeniable. And it's 526 00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:43,320 really, really incredible. And if I could even have a fraction of that, it's not about fame, 527 00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:48,440 it's just a fraction of that sort of influence. And, you know, people listen, listening to what 528 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:54,600 I do is in wanting to hear my music, that would be incredible. Well, I think that you'll get there, 529 00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:59,320 I really do. I think it's just a matter of probably if somebody speaking up for you, 530 00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:04,600 and introducing you another musician saying, Hey, all you guys who listen to me, you need to check 531 00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:12,120 out Dan Harrison, I keep returning to you giving what I would say clearance to guys and girls who 532 00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:18,280 didn't grow up listening to country. And then on top of that, you've got an office authenticity 533 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:23,560 that comes across in your songwriting and in the videos. I appreciate it, man. That means a lot in 534 00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:29,800 because that's certainly the intention. Okay, Dan favorite ice cream flavor, probably cookies and 535 00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:35,000 cream. But I find myself having vanilla or mint, one of those two mint chocolate chip. But I find 536 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:39,480 myself having vanilla a lot just because it's a really good base for you know, if you want to 537 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:44,520 mix it with anything. Dan, did you ever have a gerbil? Did you ever have a guinea pig? Did you 538 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:50,280 ever have a little a little turtle or mouse or something? I did have two turtles actually, 539 00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:55,720 at one point, I don't remember why I got them or when it was I like had to been kindergarten, 540 00:43:55,720 --> 00:44:02,920 first grade. They were and I remember they were named Bob and David and very creative names, and 541 00:44:03,720 --> 00:44:10,120 they died at some point. I don't remember why or what I think I fed them. So they're very, 542 00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:15,160 very tiny though. I had a hamster one time and I came back from vacation. We were gone for a week. 543 00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:22,520 I came back and my dog had had eaten it. Oh my gosh, that yeah. Whoa, that was not nice. That was 544 00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:30,600 I don't like that. Dan, what's something you like to watch when you're just trying to decompress 545 00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:35,160 and you're like, all right, I'm gonna put something on the rest of development. That's like I've seen 546 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:39,720 that so many times. So in terms of something to like throw on that I don't need to think too hard 547 00:44:39,720 --> 00:44:44,920 about and I can kind of come in and out of definitely something like that or like a family guy 548 00:44:44,920 --> 00:44:49,720 or South Park comedy shows like that. But I'm a big Star Wars guy too. So I love throwing on 549 00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:56,520 any of those things. And I'm kind of in the midst of watching Clone Wars and Rebels and all those 550 00:44:56,520 --> 00:45:00,760 all those things, all the animated stuff from the expanded universe that I actually didn't watch. 551 00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:05,320 Like I always loved Star Wars and watched all the movies, but I never, I just never got into the 552 00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:09,800 and I just didn't like the CGI I think when it first came out. But I like once you get used to 553 00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:14,840 it and it's really great stuff and a lot of the stuff that they're putting out is kind of now is 554 00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:19,880 kind of inspired by that era. So like the Ahsoka show that's out right now. So it's cool to dive 555 00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:24,920 back into that and kind of get the backstory. Well, Dan, this has been terrific. I got a bunch 556 00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:29,880 of other questions, but we'll save it for another time. Would you come back on the show long after 557 00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:36,120 you've made it to the top and left this episode in the dust? Would you still remember Dan time? 558 00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:40,280 Oh, I'd love to. Yeah. And I hope you're one of the you're right up there with Joe Rogan by that 559 00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:44,920 time. Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to. All right. Well, thanks for making time here, Dan. This has 560 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:50,600 been a pleasure. And folks, remember, if you're in a rut, you feel like there's something bigger 561 00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:55,720 out there for you. If you feel like you've been in this town long enough and it's you're tired of 562 00:45:55,720 --> 00:46:02,760 the cold, you're tired of the snow and you see go put a plan together and get out. If you just want 563 00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:08,520 to move across town, if you want to leave that dead end job, stop thinking about it. Do it. Dan, 564 00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:13,400 I wish you nothing but the best. I wish you all the success in the world. And thanks for appearing 565 00:46:13,400 --> 00:46:19,160 on the show. I appreciate you having me. I do. Thank you. All right. Anything else you'd like to 566 00:46:19,160 --> 00:46:24,520 plug? I didn't mention the website, but I will link it any podcast or anything you'd like to plug 567 00:46:24,520 --> 00:46:29,320 as far as Dan here is the music. I'm putting out another new song in a couple of weeks. I haven't 568 00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:32,520 announced it yet, but I'm going to be announcing it very soon. I think by the time I don't know 569 00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:38,280 when you'll have this podcast out, but it might already be out or at least announced. It's called 570 00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:44,520 So Far So Good. And it's another song that's kind of about my story. Yeah. So I'm putting that out 571 00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:48,040 soon and I got a bunch of new music coming out next year as well. I'm really excited about and 572 00:46:48,040 --> 00:46:54,200 just keeping keeping the train rolling and hopefully snowballing everything. Full steam ahead. 573 00:46:54,200 --> 00:46:59,960 Yeah. All right. Well, you guys have a great week and we will see you next Sunday on Dan Time. 574 00:46:59,960 --> 00:47:01,000 All right. Thank you so much. 575 00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:10,920 Hey, if you really enjoy that episode, please take a minute to download and subscribe. You can 576 00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:16,680 follow us on any of the social media pages. The new YouTube channel has all the prior episodes 577 00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:22,120 and the Friday challenge videos coming soon for any of my listeners who may be hearing impaired. 578 00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:28,440 I will also have full transcripts of each episode and I'll be adding chapters to each episode as 579 00:47:28,440 --> 00:47:33,320 well. I appreciate a five star review, but hey, what really helps the show is just you talking 580 00:47:33,320 --> 00:47:39,240 about it. Talk about it with your friends, your coworkers, send a group text to people you know, 581 00:47:39,240 --> 00:47:52,120 and I really appreciate your support. Thanks and have a great week.