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Artist
Dan Cunningham
12+ albums
acousticfolknewgrassAllgroovyacousticsoul
about
Joni Mitchell in a coonskin cap? (with a gap-tooth grin?) The Appalachian story-telling tradition is alive and vibrant in the hands of this accomplished guitarist. Wit and whimsy merge to form a rewarding lyrical and musical journey. This “New Appalachian” music pours forth naturally with the essential simplicity of the rural mountains while drawing on a diverse vocabulary of styles. At an early age, Dan spent long hours listening to a 50's era Zenith console, playing and replaying the the one 45 rpm single each of Eddie Arnold and Fats Domino, and the 78's of Dinah Shore and Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony. The imprint on an impressionable young mind was profound, and you might say he never recovered. Despite drifting from rock, to country to jazz; to blues, Bach and back again, Dan's own music did not develop. And then, one late night laying awake in a fleabag motel, Dan saw the light. It turned out to the flickering neon sign from "Murph's Café" next door. As fate would have it, the very next day as Dan was dining at that same café, savoring the only item on the menu he could afford; a small order of chili-cheese fries. His eyes were drawn to the Elvis portraits in black velvet, and just below, a small smeared blackboard with the lunch special, "Murph's Bologna Burger". At that moment inspiration struck and would have knocked Dan's socks off, had he been wearing any. The central question was clear....why top your burger with bologna and not chili? It was time to p
