Dan Dressen visits Listening Lyrics on 11/20/15 at 4:00PM

This weeks show features music from an older generation of songwriters to be performed by Dan Dressen. As a teen in the 1960’s Dan Dressen enjoyed music on the radio.  He started playing guitar around the time when folk music was popular.  But in the 1970’s Dan started to hear singer/song writers who were just starting their music careers and who performed at small local venues, like coffee houses and the like.  It was these lesser known musicians, at that time, that influenced Dan the most, artists such as John Hiatt, Guy Clark, Robin and Linda Williams, Tom Paxton, John Prine, Joni Mitchell, Tom Russell and others.Over the years Dan played guitar mostly for his own enjoyment.  His fans say he does “talking songs” or plays ballads but Dan just likes to play songs that tell stories.In 2011 he started to play for others and now plays at the  “The Local Open Mic Circuit.”   This includes the open mics at RootStock and Steady Eddy’s in Winters and occasionally Sophia’s and Village Homes Performers Circle in Davis.  Not being a song writer himself, he plays covers of songs that he first enjoyed 30 or 40 years ago and still enjoy today.  “I kind of like the notion that I might be introducing some wonderful old songs to younger listeners who never heard them before.  Really good songs don’t get old.”   But don't get fooled, Dan is always on the lookout for new songs to play from a new generation of singer songwriters.