A diverse collection of songs written with elders in Davis, CA, ranging from swing to alternative rock, country and folk.

11 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Modern Folk, KIDS/FAMILY: Kid Friendly



Details:
Dave Nachmanoff is a nationally touring and award-winning singer-songwriter with over 24 years experience writing and performing songs for diverse audiences. Dave has produced four recordings of original songs, released between 1993 and 1998, and has appeared on stage with Elizabeth Cotton, Peter Rowan, Steve Forbert, Al Stewart. He has led people of all ages through the process of writing songs as a part of special songwriting workshops, after school programs, and music festivals. He performs many of these songs as he travels around the country. Dave has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from UC-Davis and a B.A. in Philosophy and Music from Columbia University in New York.

The Davis Elders Song Project began with a Davis Civic Arts Contract grant, which allowed Dave to work with elders at three facilities in Davis, CA. They would write songs together and each hourly session resulted in a song. After the first year, the Davis Civic Arts Commission helped to sponsor the recording of a CD of these songs, as well as some more workshops. This resulted in "Holy Smokes! Ice Cream For Breakfast" released in February of 2002.

This collection of songs shows the extraordinary breadth and depth of writing that came out of the workshops. Topics range from a the humourous and silly to some more serious reflections on life and and aging. The music covers some fairly predictable ground, such as swing jazz, but gets into some other territory with Celtic, Country, blues and alternative rock all represented as well. The CD features some wonderful Davis-based musicians as well as some of the participants singing backup on a few songs! 50 of the proceeds from this project are being donated to an Arts for Elders fund set up by Dr. Nachmanoff.