Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Daniel.
Hi Luke, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Well thank you for having me, it’s an honor and a pleasure to be here! I started playing music at an early age, my mom bought me my first guitar in the second grade. I took lessons for a while and then just figured it out from there. I didn’t actually start to pursue songwriting and live performance until my university years though. I had been going to a lot of jam sessions and one day, I sat down and I wrote a song. “Easy Going Guy”. That was 17 years ago. Since then, writing, recording, and performing my original music has been my focus. I’ve started various projects, recorded albums, and even sold a few songs.
So, you’ve done some great stuff. Tell us a little more about that and what’s going on with you these days.
Totally, so I moved to Austin in 2005 and had instant success. I was playing a few hundred shows a year, in TX and the Midwest until about 2018 when I took a hiatus from music altogether. I was burned out. Then the pandemic hit. I spent a lot of time in my home studio, mostly playing blues guitar to escape from the world. I hadn’t been writing much at all, just working on playing lead guitar stuff. As we really got used to life in quarantine, I was hit with a wave of creativity and inspiration. I started writing again and decided I was ready to get back on the horse.
In 2021, I linked up with Edgewater Music Group in Houston, TX and we really hit it off. Just last November, we ran an Indiegogo album fundraising campaign and I raised over $20,000. I’m going to be recording an album of all-new material with Edgewater in 2022. We are looking at a Summer release, fingers crossed.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been a long road, and such is life, right? I have faced monumental adversity over the years in my personal life. Of course, venues, radio stations, and industry people have told me “no” time and time again. My biggest challenge professionally has been getting to a point where I can make a record in the studio. I just haven’t had the production quality you need to really see commercial success. That all changed last year and this album I’m working on is going to be a real banger.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Plain and simple, I’m a roots artist. I don’t like to be pinned to any one song style or even genre, but the majority of what I write falls into the Americana genre. My music has a familiar feel with an original twist on it. I’d say the coolest thing that has happened with my music, is when the Seattle Mariners used my song on their broadcast for the 2020 season. I got that royalty statement and my mouth dropped. My wife is from Seattle, it was all the more special because of our connection to our favorite West Coast city.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
One interesting part of my story is my first guitar teacher, Kyle. I started lessons at a young age and Kyle was a neighbor of ours. He was an incredible talent and the future was bright for him. He was tragically struck by lightning and killed trying to run for shelter during a thunderstorm. I’ve always felt as though this has been a big underlying motivator to keep following my dream. Kyle would be so stoked to see how far I’ve come!
Contact Info:
- Email: info@lukedanielmusic.com
- Website: www.lukedanielmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lukedanielatx
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lukedanielmusic
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/LukeDanielATX
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/lukedanielatx
Image Credits
B&W photo credit: Bethany Farrell-Menchaca
