Who is Dan Frechette?

Dan Frechette is a musical force; As anyone who has ever met him can attest, he is a living, breathing folk festival who's songwriting has been appreciated by the likes of Bob Dylan, Tim O'Brien, Doc Watson, and David Bowie. Raised in the small town of Pinawa, Manitoba, where the vast prairies meet the Canadian shield, Dan took an early obsession with music to the extreme, garnering the attention of major publishing which signed him a deal when he was just 17. To date he has recorded over 100 solo albums to date, learned to play 15 instruments across multiple genres, and has written lyrics and music to well over 1600 original songs.

For over 25 years the award winning Canadian songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and educator has performed major folk festivals and traveled throughout North America and Europe, sharing his songs and ebullient personality, and warming stages with the likes of Dar Williams, Richard Thompson, and Ron Sexsmith.

Dan's signature guitar playing style is a beaming nod to the the great guitar masters: Pete Townshend, Norman Blake and Doc Watson. Dan Frechette is equally at home in the spotlight as he is as a session and backup player, able to change styles to suit an audience or recording situation at the drop of a tip in his hat.

After spending most of his career thus far in either Winnipeg, Manitoba, or Toronto, Ontario, Dan is now based in a very different environment - the Santa Cruz Mountains, sandwiched between California's Monterey and San Francisco Bays. Dan shares a diverse and refreshing songwriting style in the spirit of Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Louis Armstrong and Paul Simon. Greg Quill of the 'Toronto Star' called Dan's CD, "Lucky Day", “an album that will surely find an exalted place in the canon," and Michael Regenstreif, writing in the eminent folk music periodical 'Sing Out!', called Dan "one of the best singer-songwriters I've heard in a long time."

His songwriting efforts have been included in feature films and have been discovered, recorded, and performed widely by celebrated artists around the world, including The Duhks (Canada), Dervish (Ireland), The Ploughboys/Damian Howard (Australia), Emma Cloney (Canada), Jessee Havey (Canada), and The Stacks/Tania Elizabeth (United States). Among his most covered songs are "Who Will Take My Place,” "The Mists Of Down Below,” "My Bride and I,” "You Don't See It," "Goodbye Monday,” and "Hurricane Heart.”

In addition to his explorations as a multi-instrumentalist across a number of genres, Dan celebrates a wealth of song knowledge encompassing everything from oldies and classic Rock & Roll to Vintage Blues, R&B, Motown, Classic Country to Old Tyme, Woody Guthrie to Bill Monroe and world music traditions.

Dan can be found performing somewhere most nights of the week, as a solo performer, touring with violinist/composer/singer Laurel Thomsen as their original Roots-Folk duo Dan Frechette & Laurel Thomsen, or playing with one of his bands, including Vinyl Revival and The Dylanaires. His travels have taken him all over the globe, inspiring a few closet superstars to also dedicate their livelihoods to music.