Dan Costello - Brooklyn Songwriter

Dan Costello - Brooklyn Songwriting since 2005
	"Few singer-songwriters have a stage presence as welcoming and engaging as Dan Costello. He comes to entertain, and he succeeds. Costello writes and performs vividly-worded folk songs in the anti-folk tradition: smart, funny, quirky, powerhouse songwriting, distinctly New York. Armed with a booming, clear voice and a six-string, Costello sings his thoughtful, intelligent lyrics from the heart. His performance was full of energy and imagery, and even a bit of the theatrical – Very cool!" - Jezebel Music
The Main Facts: Dan Costello is a songwriter based in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. Dan is an independent musician, having quit his corporate music job in January 2006. He works as a sound engineer, a recording assistant, a piano player, an open-mic host, an audio consultant, and occasionally as an album producer. He's a member of the Freelancers Union and various arts organizations. He has toured all over Europe, Canada and the United States. Dan is a member of Creaky Boards and has played with A Fermata, Eric Wolfson and the War Cabinet, and Brook Pridemore and The Valley Cubs. Dan has produced albums for Soft Black, Annie Crane, Ben Godwin, and Peaks and Valleys and more. Dan has five albums of original music, "Halloween Baby", "Come Home", "Costello", "Recession Songs", and "Live in Zurich". They are available for purchased download here. "Recession Songs" is a free download. The Other, Less Crucial Facts. Stepping out of the cultural cross streets of Brooklyn, Dan Costello's sound breaks all the musical molds. Writing from the influence of Folk, Rock, Jazz, Hip Hop and Broadway, Dan's songs cannot be restricted to any particular genre, as he fashions new sounds out of his eclectic influences. Born on Halloween and a theatrical performer since the age of five, Dan's been all over the country in embarrassing costumes. He is not related to Elvis Costello but thanks you for asking. He is however related to Ethan Allen (of the Green Mountain Boys). Through his politically active parents, Dan heard socially conscious music ranging from Woody Guthrie's "Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti" to Pete Seeger and Phil Ochs at an early age. He was admittedly "raised on Dylan by my Ph.D Dad" while he "sang showtunes quite loudly in the kitchen with my mother" He went to folk festivals every summer, sometimes working as a member of the business crew. As an early teenager in a predominantly Black middle school, Dan sang in a gospel choir, learned jazz saxophone and keyboard, and started writing hip hop lyrics. He wrote his first song, "Dan's Blues" for the All-City Orchestra in Albany, NY at the age of thirteen. Dan starred in community and regional stage productions throughout his teenage years. Dan attended Syracuse University, where he served as musical director for a stage version of Pink Floyd's The Wall, and created adaptations of The Who's Tommy and The Rocky Horror Show. He composed a theatrical song cycle and staged a workshop production. He graduated in May 2003 with a BFA in Drama and moved to New York City that fall. Dan has appeared at Mercury Lounge, The Bowery Ballroom, Rockwood Music Hall, CBGB's, The Bitter End, Sidewalk Cafe, Cake Shop and tons of other NYC venues. Dan has also played hundreds of shows in Europe and Canada. Touring began in 2006 when Dan ventured to England for Brighton's Summer Antifest and a show at London's 12 Bar. In 2007 he produced the New York Antifolk Festival where he had the pleasure of hosting and working sound for Suzanne Vega. Also in 2007 Dan was a founder of Brooklyn Tea Party, a non-political artist workspace in Bushwick, NY. BTP has been important in the growing alternative-venue movement in NYC. In 2008 he wrote a new album of songs over a month-long solo train trip, and within the year took his band on an East Coast tour to promote the new album, simply called "Costello." In 2009 Dan toured Europe three separate times, playing over 100 shows, and he released "Recession Songs", a folk album about hard times. On the third trip, called "The Great Grand Tour", Dan travelled through 15 countries over three months, visiting his ancestral homelands in Ireland, Ukraine and Belarus. He is working on a book and stage show based on this revelatory journey. In 2010 Dan and his fiancee and musical partner Rachel Devlin toured Europe as a folk-duo and hosted the first-ever New Artists Program at the Old Songs Festival in Altamont, NY. They are planning two new albums, one new band, and a future together. Dan is a proud uncle of the cutest kid on the whole planet. Press Quotes: "A little bit country, a little bit, um.. other weird, cool stuff." - Boulder Weekly "This folk-rapper-poet is [in] magically in-your-face in a pleasant way (but not too pleasant). Humorous social criticisms percolate tastily throughout his songs, a refreshing blast of lyrics in a songwriter climate of confessionals and narcissisms."--Gabriel Levitt, jezebelmusic.com "A shirt-pocket Dylan" - Kieler Nachrichten