CLICK ON LINK ABOVE, THEN CLICK ON FILE TO PLAY OR DOWNLOAD ACOUSTIC DEMO, PRINTABLE POSTER, MIDI DEMO OR WEB MOVIE. (Web movie must be downloaded and saved to play as wmv file.)
I'm a song writer/performer and have worked around the country in twenty five states and Canada. I've worked with such notables as The Grass Roots, The Buckinghams, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Shooting Star, REO Speedwagon, The Boys from Illinois, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Bobby Vee, Danny & The Juniors and the Classic Rock All Stars. During my radio career I've been lucky enough to interview and meet folks like Eddie Money, Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton, The Black Crowes, The Outfield and others.
I work an acoustic duo with the beautiful Barbara Binns in Omaha and perform in the Omaha metro area. I also perform ..boards, guitar, drums, bass and sing in various Omaha groups as well as my own band.
As a teenager I worked with Matt King in Quincy got a glimpse of his jazz genius at an early age. Working with Dana, Vicky Stan and Jimmy at the Barn Nightclub during my junior year gave me a taste of the road since we played 5 nights a week til 3:am and held the house gig for over six months. I had road offers before I graduated from school, but decided to finish my education before living out of hotel rooms. Before leaving town, I caught the attention of Micki Free from Smokehouse and Shalamar fame and was invited to the Tieken mansion where I could sit in on a recording session and watch the action go down. Micki, Dennis Tieken and Willie Dale were laying down some tracks and Freddy was behind the console. Micki looked me up at the Fine Arts School as a favor to his little brother and asked me about my future. Watching this man walk into the school dressed up for stage and bigger than life shocked me. He walked in and shook my hand and then said, "So, I hear you want to be a rock and roll star"? I started my recording career at Pro-am studios by age 19 and ended up with local airplay in Missouri, Illinois and Iowa over half a dozen stations or more. I think I was the first local to have any airplay at that time and it was a bit of a shock to hear my name and my songs on the air. Jack Mannis was the road manager for Harvey Mandel from Canned Heat and took an interest in my material and shopped me to Epic Records along with my friends from Captain Ohm, but nothing happened after that. John Williams sang for this group and also did my vocal tracks and I thank him for his years of friendship. Brad Shaffer was my local guitar idol and taught me more than he'll ever know. I could write a book about the Speaker Plant and all the musician's that rehearsed there through my high school years. Bands like Crystal Wind, Sutters Creek and Blue Bird wowed me with such diverse talent.
I went on to record with a few groups that never did much and ended up recording in my home studio with several releases that hit 1 on MP3.com a few years back.
My early start with Craig Moore from Gonn and Smokehouse fame taught me much and I am thankful for his wisdom and guidance. Craig once said that six degrees of seperation have let fame miss us. His replacement in Smokehouse was John Sauter who later went on to play for Ted Nugent!
Craig later introduced me to Slink Rand after I moved up to Peoria and I got a taste of some really hot guitar work! My favorite gigs with Craig were at the Red Lion in Champaign as we were the support group for the Boys! I also remember coming back home to Quincy and playing to a packed house at Positively Front Street and that, was a magic night! A few years later and I moved out west to Kansas City and played with Livewire and we had a huge following. This band broke up and I ended up with the guitar slot in the Nebraska Band which was huge on the regional level. Fast forward many years later and I have studied a bit of music formally and spent time learning oldies from the Hitz band from the Twin Cities. I was also featured on a Rockabilly CD released by the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and performed the lead vocal and guitar tracks on Buddy Holly's song "Oh Boy".
Doing vocal impressions and playing guitar is my bread and butter. I've been playing guitar and drums for over 40 years and added piano, bass and organ. Dobro is another recent addition is more for my enjoyment at home as well as the double neck lap steel.
If you enjoy the music, please share it with others and drop me a line. I am also available for bookings and can be contacted by email. Also my group, "Denny Crane" is available for classic rock shows. Contact me at 402.290.8429 for bookings and check the videos out at www.myspace.com/dennycraneomaha
