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Dan Zanes
was a member of the popular 1980s band The Del Fuegos and is currently the front man of the Grammy winning group Dan Zanes and Friends.
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DAN ZANE TICKETS
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History
Dan Zanes was born in
Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1961, and spent his childhood in
Texas and then in
Fredericton, New Brunswick. He attended
Phillips Academy in
Andover, Massachusetts. Zanes ended up living on the outskirts of
Concord, New Hampshire.
He started playing guitar when he was eight and began taking
Leadbelly records out of the public library as soon as he was old enough to get a library card; according to his mother, "He was always very musical."
In 1981, Zanes went to
Oberlin College in
Ohio, where he was determined to start a really cool band. In the breakfast line on the very first day at Oberlin, he met Tom Lloyd. Zanes and Lloyd took their breakfast back to the dorm and immediately started a band and soon left school and headed to
Boston, ("It was between Boston and Austin," according to Zanes), where they became known as the The Del Fuegos.
The Del Fuegos
The Del Fuegos played in lofts, bars, small art galleries, clubs, barns, college dining halls, fraternity houses, gymnasiums, auditoriums, and, finally, big theaters.
Rolling Stone named the Del Fuegos "Best New Band" in 1984. Once,
Bruce Springsteen jumped on stage to play "Hang on Sloopy" with them. With the Del Fuegos, Zanes made several records —
The Longest Day
(1984),
Boston, Mass
(1985),
Stand Up
(1987),
Smoking in the Fields
(1989) — and had a hit single,
Don't Run Wild
. In 1987, Zanes married Paula Greif, the director of the video for the Del Fuegos song,
I Still Want You
.
Children's music
After Dan Zanes and his wife, Paula Zanes, had a baby, Anna Zanes, they moved to
New York City. Zanes subsequently began playing music with a group of other fathers that he had met in
West Village playgrounds who were also there with their kids. These fathers playing music together eventually became The Wonderland String Band, which played at parks and parties and on a tape of songs that Zanes recorded at his home.
The tape was a hit locally—i.e. on the playgrounds where he and his daughter played—and Zanes realized that he liked making music that families could enjoy together, as opposed to music that is just for children or just for adults. So, he added a small number of women to his band, renamed it the Rocket Ship Revue, and began making a full-length homemade album, enlisting the help of some people he had met when he was a Del Fuego--
Sheryl Crow,
Suzanne Vega, and
Simon Kirke, the drummer for
Bad Company.
The album,
Rocket Ship Beach
(2000), was also a hit. The
New York Times Magazine called it "cool", and added, "Mostly, though, Zanes kids music works because it is not kids music; it's just music—-music that's unsanitized, unpasteurized, that's organic even."
Sheryl Crow and
Suzanne Vega made guest appearances on the album. The second album,
Family Dance
(2001) is composed of dance songs from a wide variety of musical traditions and features
Loudon Wainwright III and
Roseanne Cash. The third recording, the more mellow
Night Time!
(2002), features collaborations with
Aimee Mann,
Lou Reed,
John Doe,
Dar Williams, and other established musicians.
The fourth album in the family series is
House Party
(2003), a rambunctious 20-song collection with a diverse instrumentation that, in addition to the usual
guitars,
banjos,
upright bass and
drums, includes such instruments as
tuba,
accordion,
pump organ,
djembe and
saw.
House Party
was nominated for a
Grammy in the Musical Album for Children category. Music video selections from the
House Party
album play during the
Disney Channel's morning program suite known as
Playhouse Disney.
In 2007, Zanes received the
Grammy Award for
Best Musical Album for Children for
Catch That Train!
and produced a children's Reggae CD with Father Goose called "Its a Bam Bam Diddly", which also features songs performed by
Sister Carol and
Sheryl Crow [1]
In early 2009, Zanes'
¡Nueva York!
won in The 8th Annual
Independent Music Awards for Best Children's Music Album.
[1]
Trivia
Zanes is a public supporter of several charities. Zanes donates some of the proceeds from
Family Dance
and
Night Time!
to the non-profit world hunger organization
Heifer International.
Discography
With the Del Fuegos
- The Longest Day
(1984)
- Boston, Mass.
(1985)
- Spin Radio Concert
(1985)
- Stand Up
(1987)
- Smoking in the Fields
(1989)
Solo
Children's music
- Rocket Ship Beach
(2000)
- Family Dance
(2001)
- Night Time!
(2002)
- House Party
(2003)
- Catch That Train!
(2006)
- ¡Nueva York!
(2008)
Traditional music
- Sea Music
(2002)
- Parades and Panoramas
(2004)
References
- Independent Music Awards - 8th Annual Winners