A collection of adult contemporary focused and expressive folk/rock songs with thoughtful and emotional lyrics.

12 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Modern Rock, FOLK: Folk-Rock



Details:
I was born Daniel Richard Mandel in 1961 in Cleveland, Ohio. I started playing guitar and writing songs at the age of 12. My family moved from Cleveland to Albuquerque when I was 13. Everywhere I moved, California, Minnesota, Utah... I gradually realized that I was happiest when music was central in my life. Perhaps all the moving I've done has made me contemplative and my songwriting has fallen into the Adult Contemporary Folk style, being inspired by Jackson Browne, Cat Stevens, and Freedy Johnston. It was my move to Salt Lake City in 1996 that inspired me to take the next step and commit to playing and recording my music. 1998 I returned to San Francisco and promised that I would keep up the momentum.

It was August of 2004 when I assembled my home studio and in September of 2005 I had completed my first independent release MIGHT BE YOU. It ended up as the culmination of all my songwriting work to that point. I am very proud of the result.

In 2005 actor, director, playwright Gemma Wilcox invited me to attend an amazing artists workshop on creativity in Southwestern France. This has been one of the highlights of my life - I was introduced to Nancy Spanier and Paul Oertel who I consider my mentors. I returned in 2006 and together with the collaborative guidance of Nancy and Paul created a performance based on my songs called Brave Open Love.

I am currently promoting Brave Open Love and focusing on establishing a regional presence based in Northern California. As this is original acoustic music I am exploring alternative venues, home concerts and company events.