Artist Profile Dan Roten

..The Story:

Dan Roten has been delighting audiences with his distinctive and captivating voice for nearly 20 years. Born and raised in Southern California, he loved to sing as a child but didn't develop his songwriting technique or pursue his talent until he was in his early twenties.

...He is a self-taught musician and currently plays a custom built acoustic/ electric Ovation Adamas 12-string guitar. He is comfortable performing to audiences from as small as an afternoon Starbucks crowd to a July 4th gathering in Walnut, California numbering over 10,000.

...Dan has independently released two CD's of his original music and spent two years in Nashville performing and exploring the country music scene before returning to the Los Angeles area. The style of music he performs can be called adult alternative with a crossover country influence. Besides his own original songs, his repertoire consists of artists such as Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison and The Eagles. His writing and vocal style has been influenced by Don Henley, Bob Seger and the late Harry Chapin and Jim Croce.

...He was featured in PEOPLE Magazine for a song he wrote in tribute to an infant known to the world only as Baby Fae, who captivated the world as the first newborn recipient of a cross-species heart transplant.

...Dan has become well versed in the art of personalized songwriting. Recording and performing songs for events such as weddings, anniversaries and birthdays, have become a specialty.

...He is currently performing regularly in Sierra Madre, California at the Boulevard Grill and Mary's Market. Other regular venues include the Chino Hills Town Center and Chino Hills Marketplace, Starbucks in Old Town Pasadena and the Monrovia Family Festival.

The Project:

...Back in January of this year (2005), I was performing at a venue in Mesa, Arizona. During one of my breaks a young man, his wife and their son approached me, but then they started to walk away. He turned back around and picked up one of my business cards which states "I am a Singer/Songwriter/Musician", and on the line below it says that "I do Personalized Songwriting".

...The gentleman told me his name was T.C. He asked if I could possibly write a song for his wife. I told him I would need to know as much as I could about her. I asked him to write her a letter, but then send it to me. In the letter I would need to know about how he feels about her and their relationship. As well as, what he loves about her and to describe the things that she loves.

...Her root beer brown eyes were one of the details that the letter illustrated. How when he looked into them, he felt as if he could just float away. Not to mention, the night that he knew she was the one. They were dancing to the song "With Or Without You" by U2.

...Seven months later it was complete, but the last detail was over a speaker phone. I remember asking T.C to describe what the family's routine was like at bedtime. One of the things that caught my attention was how they put their son Julian down to bed and together prayed as a family.

...I learned from this process that I can write a personalized song for someone and still make it able to relate to other people's lives. It was a very rewarding and learning experience for me. I hope to do it again as soon as somebody is ready to put me to the challenge again.

The Connection:

...My introduction to Dan was through our agent, Rosemary Hancock. This was about 4 or 5 years ago. I remember Rosie giving me a cd to listen to and I loved it. From then on I would run into Dan at certain gigs around town. Because of our playing schedules, I never actually got to hear him play, but I knew what I had heard years before.

...This year (2005) we would hook up every so often for me to dub cd's and design layouts for him. That led to us working together on this commission piece. At first, this was going to be just a guitar / vocal thing, but that was all about to change.

...We ended up using "The Brats" to fill in with some emotional support. Which included: Frankie "G" on electric and acoustic guitar. Fretless John on the Fretless bass and the freted bass. Chris "The Big EZ" Terry on drums and yes, myself on piano and acoustic guitar. To help with keeping the computer and the main mixing board in check I enlisted the help of the famous Kirk "The Captain" Reimann. As the sessions expanded Mr. Bill would also make an appearance and put in his two cents of evolution.

...After close to 50 hours of creative juices the song was complete and mailed in time for the client to present his wife with this piece. Actually, working with Dan is what brought up the idea about adding this category. The thought of fleshing out what we hear with words from people who were there. Seeing things come to life and take on characteristics all its own......There's nothing like it......Anywhere.