Daniel Makins

Daniel was born in Dallas in 1978. He was raised in San Angelo, Texas where he has recently returned after a decade away in Nashville and Austin. Music was always a passion for his parents, who perform traditional cowboy music, and Daniel is a relative of famed "ballad hunter" and folk music collector, John A. Lomax. Mandatory piano lessons were inflicted upon a young Daniel for many years, and he is also an accomplished drummer. He has played with several varied artists while living in and around Austin including: Austin Collins, Gordy Quist, Dana Cooper of Nashville, Susan Gibson, Jeff Plankenhorn, Graham Webber, Adam Carroll, Dave Teichrobe of Ontario, and others. This history as a multi-instrumentalist is evident in unique, rythmic guitar style.

Though he is self-taught, his father was the first to interest him in guitar. Each night when he was little, "Red Headed Stranger" and "Sweet Baby James" played Daniel to sleep. When prodded in an interview, Daniel confessed, "I secretly believe it was this bedtime ritual that led me to write and sing. That imagery just between awake and asleep made a powerful impact on me." His mother gave him his first guitar, which he still plays. Though highly customized, it is the same 1965 Gibson B-25 purchased by his grandfather in a Fort Worth pawnshop in the late 60's. He seems to have a joyfully, meaningful relationship with his family.


	Bio: Daniel was born in Dallas in 1978. He was raised in San Angelo, Texas where he has recently returned after a decade away in Nashville and Austin. Music was always a passion for his parents, who perform traditional cowboy music, and Daniel is a relative of famed "ballad hunter" and folk music collector, John A. Lomax. Mandatory piano lessons were inflicted upon a young Daniel for many years, and he is also an accomplished drummer. He has played with several varied artists while living in and around Austin including: Austin Collins, Gordy Quist, Dana Cooper of Nashville, Susan Gibson, Jeff Plankenhorn, Graham Webber, Adam Carroll, Dave Teichrobe of Ontario, and others. This history as a multi-instrumentalist is evident in unique, rythmic guitar style. Though he is self-taught, his father was the first to interest him in guitar. Each night when he was little, "Red Headed Stranger" and "Sweet Baby James" played Daniel to sleep. When prodded in an interview, Daniel confessed, "I secretly believe it was this bedtime ritual that led me to write and sing. That imagery just between awake and asleep made a powerful impact on me." His mother gave him his first guitar, which he still plays. Though highly customized, it is the same 1965 Gibson B-25 purchased by his grandfather in a Fort Worth pawnshop in the late 60's. He seems to have a joyfully, meaningful relationship with his family.
It was only after college, and marriage, that Daniel began to feel sounds and words actually making music. "The writing process was this hurried rush of inspiration for years." "That was great and the songs seemed to rhythmically flow fairly well, but I lacked discipline, original thought, and meaning. My real passion for writing came when I slowed it all down and investigated the reason for the inspiration." All of the background (though much has been left out) is intriguing, but does not explain what Daniel Makins does for a living. He paints common experience vividly like other West Texas-raised, people-watching writers, but then he reasons through the emotion of the experience to reveal some deeper or metaphorical meaning. His shows are entertaining and musically refreshing. He is a humble guy, but looking into genuine, crowd-scanning eyes during a show, one can see that he knows what he is doing, and he lives for it. -Anna Kate Monroe Freelance Writer, Gunnison, Co.