By Joanie Cox Henry
The sun is disappearing behind the billowy clouds while a Frank Sinatra record spins on a turntable in the corner of South Florida musician J.D. Danner’s oceanfront apartment. “I love the way music sounds on a record,” J.D. Danner says while taking a long, thoughtful sip from a mug of hot coffee. “I never thought records would make a comeback. I had the most incredible albums of Grandmaster Flash and The Stylistics. I wish I never got rid of those.”
Danner’s mug says “Dreamer” on it and the sentiment suits her. Dreams are the one thing she admits she’s always had a healthy stockpile of to fall back on. J.D Danner has been writing and performing music for more than two decades. Described by some critics as “Joan Jett meets Johnny Cash with a dash of Melissa Etheridge,” Danner has been lyrically pouring her heart out on the subjects that haunt her most such as unrequited love, a longing to belong, and having the audacity to dream.
Her original music has taken her to military bases in Guantanamo Bay to Lucas Oil Stadium to perform for an NFL Half-time show to the storied Bluebird Café in Nashville. Danner has been writing music for the past two decades. It’s a practice she says has been equal parts salvation and mayhem.
J.D. Danner Is Still Daring To Dream
“When you’re following a dream, especially a dream that’s in the arts, it’s not for the faint of heart,” she explains. “You have to really want it and you have to be prepared for more rejection than acceptance and a lot of your doors, both literally and figuratively to be slammed in your face.”
There are many nights when J.D. Danner admits she doesn’t get more than an hour or two of sleep. “I am blessed to have a fantastic promotions team now and a publicist I can rely on, but the music business for any local musician can still be a grind,” Danner says. “It’s easy to get discouraged but it’s crucial to remember nothing worth having ever comes easily.”
Inspiration might strike at 4 am and Danner admits at times she finds herself scribbling song lyrics onto a takeout napkin. But like anything worth fighting for, Danner continues to pursue her craft. Her original music has taken her on what she describes as the most profound adventure of her life. While she has already written dozens of songs, J.D. Danner says in so many ways, she’s just getting started. She describes herself as “a work in progress” and doesn’t remain comfortable for too long. “The industry is super competitive, and you always have to think ahead,” she explains.
She is also an original artist who has never been afraid to take risks with her music writing ballads, southern rock riffs, and even an electronica-fueled dance rendition of “The Lover You Once Knew,” which she released in May of 2022.
On Oct. 14, she performed a show “Life In A Song” at Arts Garage in Delray Beach, Fla., that took audience members on a deeply personal journey. It was Danner’s first complete show of original music, which is something she says every artist dreams of at some point.
Like most musicians who survived the isolating agony of not being able to perform on stage during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Danner says she had plenty of time to think about her original music during that time and even felt inspired to write a new song “Nothing But Faith” to channel some of the angst she was feeling being disconnected from family, friends, and family for too long.
“I had many people asking when I would play my original music again,” Danner says. “I was home and had a lot of time to think. I started journaling and reflecting on my lifelong relationship with music and how it was instrumental in every facet of my life from heartache to happiness. That’s how the concept of ‘Life In a Song’ was really born.”
J.D. Danner says her relationship with music has been instrumental in her life. “It was music that brought be back to life after every challenge and through some of the toughest times of my life,” she explains. “It was also music that brought me back to life.”
Danner performed “Life In A Song” with lead guitarist and vocalist Fernando Santomaggio, drummer Steve Cocola and bassist Brian Harelik. All the members of the J.D. Danner Band have had a history of playing music with Danner over the years with Santomaggio originally on bass and Harelik on drums more than a decade ago.
“It’s an amazing feeling performing with my incredibly talented band,” Danner says. “They connect with my original music and melodically and masterfully illustrate the powerful stories in each song.”
For Danner: It Continues To Be A Hard Road To Heaven
Danner says “Life In a Song” featured her original music including tunes such as “Almost Home” and her Hard Road To Heaven album which she wrote with Nashville music industry icon, Keith Ridenour.
“I met Keith Ridenour in 2002,” Danner recalls. “I decided to make a second CD and I was told by several people in the local music business to see Keith about producing my CD. I went to see him and he was impressed with my songwriting. He inspired me because it was an instant connection with us musically and creatively. We both shared a passion for music and it became the beginning of an integral partnership.”
The duo started recording Maybe It’s Just Me in South Florida and finished the album in Nashville. Ridenour was already producing albums at the time and brought Danner into a recording studio. “He had a recording studio on Music Row at the time,” she says. “There was a lot of turmoil in my life during that time and again, the music was my escape and my refuge.”
Danner says Ridenour’s influence on her music was magic from the start. “I have sat down and tried to write music with different artists and when I sat down to finally write with Keith, there was that lightning in a bottle feeling you only get so many times creatively during one’s life,” Danner says. “There’s a significant difference in the writing. He felt I needed to put more of an element of fun into my writing. There’s definitely a different vibe of Hard Road to Heaven. There are more fun songs on that where I tend to write dark and more intense on my own.”
Again, Danner revisited some of the most tumultuous moments of her own life for inspiration from her own heartaches and betrayals to losses and wins and the moment she finally realized she had to live her truth of being a lesbian.
“They say there’s a reason for everything and you try to find good in something that happens,” Danner says. “And after being betrayed it was the catalyst to really become who I was then. I would’ve just stayed status quo and put all those feelings into my music.”
Now, Danner hopes to continue to inspire others with her lyrics and melodies who might be struggling to come out, nursing a broken heart, or simply just trying to find their way in the world.
“I hope in telling my story that I could inspire other women in my age group to dare to dream,” Danner says. “I want to be a positive influence for women who maybe things didn’t work out the way they wanted. My mission is to inspire women that they could dare to dream.”
In the end, Danner says it is and will always be about her devoted fan base. When she’s having a tough day, she says she often finds herself revisiting a note a fan has sent over the years describing how her music has helped them through a difficult time. “I think we’re all hurting and we’re all experiencing some level of challenges,” Danner says. “The music is such a healing mechanism for the human condition. This will always be worth it if I have inspired even one person through my songs. I’m really blessed to still be sharing my music with the world.”
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