Dan Joseph is a solo folk/country artist originally from Las Vegas, NV. He is active duty US Coast Guard and currently stationed in Portsmouth, VA. Dan’s new song, “Younger,” is a visceral Americana meditation on grief and the impermanence of life. Fans of Two Cow Garage will connect with Joseph’s stream-of-consciousness storytelling and tightly constructed melodies. This is a promising start — and Joseph’s got the role models and musical chops to see it all through.
Who are some of your musical influences?
First off, my biggest musical influence is not a well known musician… He is my uncle named Scott who just passed away. He completely taught himself guitar (literally experimenting with the strings for years without any sort of music theory lessons), and he wrote insane songs unlike anything I have ever heard that would only be played for his wife and his cat and a few others. He wasn’t doing it for attention. He was doing it because he loved it. And I loved hearing them!
When I saw him play a few years ago, I realized there was no reason I couldn’t write songs too, so I wrote songs with whatever sounded cool, and it has changed my life. I think my song “Younger” is inspired by the grief of when I found out he had cancer. I say “I think” because I write songs based on how I am feeling in that moment. Sometimes you think you know what the song is about in the moment, and then a few months later you look back and you see a totally new meaning. When I wrote this song I was away from my wife due to being active duty US Coast Guard, my grandmother’s dementia was worsening, and I found out that my Uncle Scott (my biggest musical influence) was diagnosed with cancer… I was definitely in a place of grieving.
Since writing this song my grandmother and uncle have both passed away, and the song will forever remind me of moving past a uniquely depressed time of my life. It will forever remind me of the way Scott played the guitar. It will forever remind me of giving him his dream guitar on Christmas Day in the hospital and seeing him break down in tears. It will forever be heavy on my heart… (sorry to go so deep there!)
As far as the standard musical influences go I’d say Zach Bryan because he proved that just because you are active duty military doesn’t mean you can’t write incredible songs… Chris Stapleton because, we’ll I don’t think I have to explain! And Rich Mullins because his music always leads me in the right direction.
Do you have any songwriting tips you can share?
Voice memos! I don’t even touch a pen to paper anymore for songwriting because that’s not how my brain works, and if you have to write the lyric down, it’s usually not catchy enough to remember. I record a voice memo of the verse, move on to the next, and so on. After they’re all done, I have a bunch of pieces that I was able to remember without writing down. Bingo.
Who would you love to collaborate with? why?
This one is OBVIOUS! Zach Bryan. I first listened to Zach Bryan when he had a couple thousand streams on Spotify with his DeAnn album. Being a songwriter in the military myself, it was inspiring to see Zach’s songs. And then the songs blew up! I would love to get the opportunity to write a song with Zach Bryan.
What are some of the best venues you’ve played? Why?
I haven’t gotten to play many venues yet, but there’s been a couple times when the crew on my ship has made me perform, and it’s unlike any live venue because these people haven’t seen land in forever, let alone live music! When I get to play for the crew, everyone is so excited that it doesn’t matter if I do well, they love it! And they go nuts!
What do you think you could do to make your music or shows more accessible to a more diverse audience?
Play with diverse artists. A lot of people want to stereotype race by genre, but live music doesn’t work that way. I have found that when an artist genuinely has talent and has work that pulls at your heart, it doesn’t matter if it’s hip-hop, trap, country, rock, Latin, etc… people will relate, and people will be thankful they got to hear your art.
What’s the best way a fan can support you?
The biggest way a fan could support me right now is just to share my music to their friends if they like it! I have a more than full time job, so I don’t need more money, but I don’t get many opportunities to play for new ears, so if a fan wants to help the dream, the biggest thing they could do is tell their friends!