"Dan Vaillancourt does more with just an acoustic guitar than most three piece bands can accomplish." -Leo Zaccari 90.5FM The Night, Lincroft, NJ
In Concert: 10-String Guitar
On the Albums: Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Bass, Mandolin, Lapsteel, Dobro, Banjo, Percussion...
Influences
Paul Simon, Scratch, Victor Wooten, Ben Harper, Larry Norman, Monk, G Love, Ryan Adcock, Ashley Peacock, John Prine, Bela Fleck, Chris Thile, Bobby Mcferrin, Darden Smith, Edgar Meyers, Mike Marshall, Joseph Arthur, Lost and Found, Jeffery Hyde Thompson, Martin Sexton, Slam Stewart, Bob Dylan, e.e. cummings, David Wilcox
Sounds Like
People have suggested everyone from G. Love, Kaki King, Jimi Hendrix, Leo Kottke, Barenaked Ladies, Frank Zappa, Keller Williams, Bob Schneider, Arlo Guthrie, Jason Mraz, Shawn Mullins, Paul Simon and everything in between.
Thanks for listening to the music and reading this... I've been blessed to be able to travel around and play lots of music and I thank you for making that possible... I know I can't do it without you.
I like stories...so free to contact me with good stories, small talk, comments, questions, curious anecdotes or whatever! Yes, I run my own myspace and I read everything you write to me and I like reading it... I love you guys and think you are pretty darn awesome. If you enjoy the tunes, tell your friends.
I am now going to complete the rest of the bio by inconspicuously writing in the third person. :)
Dan Vaillancourt is a nationally touring acoustic singer-songwriter from Michigan. He plays a style of music that is defined as funktified folk thus making him: The Funktified Folkman. For the majority of the 21st century, Dan has spent about 150 days a year traveling around and playing music at coffeehouses, bars, churches, clubs, theaters, music festivals, youth gatherings, living rooms, etc... He has played shows for anywhere from 3 people to 3000+ people. He has performed hundreds of shows in 29 states in the US and counting. His music has been heard on hundreds of radio stations around the world including many nationally syndicated radio shows. He even charted on the Top-30 AAA charts around the country. He has been on CD compilations with lots of talented artists including Corinne Bailey Rae, Beth Orton, Umphrey’s McGee, Donavon Frankenreiter and many more. He is currently working on his new studio album with the help of former-Grammy nominated producer, amazing guitar player and all around nice guy Ric Hordinski.
WHAT IS HE REALLY LIKE?
Dan Vaillancourt is a pretty big dork and a pretty simple guy. He gets really excited about things like food, vegetable gardens, good coffee, intriguing conversations, Christopher Moore books, NPR, Coast to Coast AM and great scenery. His normal attire is jeans and a t-shirt that was probably given to him from a festival, venue, musician or something of the like. He hasn't owned a comb in a dozen years or more. He shaves every few weeks. Chances are that his laptop, car and coffeepot are older than yours. He doesn't own many non-music related items. He has had an array of jobs over the years including but not limited to: Paperboy, Small Engine Repairman, Computer Lab Attendant, Landscaper, Jewelery Maker and many more. He went to college and graduated with a degree in Cultural Anthropology and World Religion. Now he is a full-time touring musician and music teacher.
He rarely trashes hotel rooms, hardly ever throws TVs out of windows and only occasionally gets mad at his personal assistants when they bring him sub-par coffee...
WHY IS HE THE WAY HE IS?
His dad has taught private music lessons for over 30 years, likes being outdoors, has a garden and has a corny sense of humor. His mom is an artist, photographer, singer and songwriter and a great cook. Which goes to prove that Dan is basically just a product of his raising.
WHEN DID HE START PLAYING MUSIC?
Dan took piano lessons and tried to play violin while he was growing up. He was pretty stubborn and would do just about anything to get out of practicing to go outside and run around or do some sort of extreme sport that would frequently result in injuries. Finally, he started playing guitar when he was about 14 years old. About the same time that he started playing guitar, he became sick and this led to him being stuck at home more often and thus having more time to practice. Guitar became his passion and he would sometimes practice as much as 5 hours or more a day. By the time he was 15, he was writing his first songs and began teaching lessons. He still teaches music lessons and has written hundreds of songs and has since released four studio albums (two with bands and two solo) and many live recordings.
CREATING FUNKTIFIED FOLK
Dan has always been torn between two sides of music: Great songwriters and virtuosos. His earliest memory of a song being on the radio was listening to his mom singing along to Paul Simon's “You Can Call Me Al” off of the album 'Graceland,' which strangely enough became his favorite album of all time. Growing up he went to many bluegrass festivals with his father and listened to a lot of tradition music... and had a strange fascination with music that none of his peers listened to. He became infatuated with late night jazz and blues that aired on NPR and music from the 1960s like the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan. About the time he was 15, he discovered the music of some modern singer-songwriters like Ben Harper and Ani Difranco (who he saw open for Bob Dylan.)
It wasn't until he was 18 that he began to open up to other modern types of music mostly via mix tapes that his friends would make for him which introduced him to acts like G Love, David Wilcox, Allen Levi, Wyclef, Soul Coughing and early hip-hop, which would continue to expand his realm of musical influences. He began to realize that all music had a purpose and everything could be an influence in some way. When he was 19, he went to a Victor Wooten concert at The Ark in Ann Arbor on a whim and it changed his life forever. He was sitting in the forth row center and he saw Victor do things on a bass guitar that changed the way he looked at his instrument... He began looking for ways to translate these techniques on the guitar.
When he was 21, his friend Ashley Peacock took him on his first tour outside of Michigan and it opened his eyes to all of the amazing independent music that is out there. On that tour, he picked up three albums that would change his life forever. 1. “The Embodiment of Instrumentation” by the human beatbox Kyle Jones, a.k.a. Scratch . 2. The ambient guitar album called “Hush” by viruosic guitarist Ric Hordinski a.k.a. Monk. 3. “Beyond Words” by perhaps the world's most inventive vocalist Bobby Mcferrin.
There have been many other music inspirations and infatuations over the years and he continues to develop new ones in his constant quest to find new music. He still loves NPR and when people make him mixes. :)
It's pretty sweet that you have Bela Fleck in your influences, because I was listening to some of your music the other day and it made me think of him. Crazy times!
hey there1 life's okay. got a few jobs now so im getting some dough. classes start in 3 wks im preparing to get up early but so fr it aint happenin'. ive been trying to get up by 7-ish, but i dont end up getting up till noon-ish. i guess i have to go to bed earlier. im sure that's part of the problem. i should probably be getting more than 3or 4 hrs of sleep......zzzzzzzz
Hey man, thanks for dropping me a note. It was great to run into you at the Space last week, and I'm enjoying the CD a lot. Good stuff! Let me know if you're ever driving through western PA and want a place to play/stay. All the best!
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