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Interview with Daniel Lee Martin
By Janelle Landauer (May 2007)
How would you describe your style of music for those who haven't heard you yet?
I would describe it as "brand new." It's like nothing that they've ever heard before. It's a combination of my years as a music connoisseur - and what I mean by that is by just listening to music my whole life from John Denver to Journey, to you name it. I love music and I try to take a little bit from the folks that I enjoy, the folks that I like listening to and just put it into my own style. So, it is my style, but there's still a lot of influence from a lot of artists there. So, it's definitely something brand new that they're going to hear. I think both - song wise, content wise and music as well.
How and when did your first break in the music industry come about?
My first break in the music industry was back in March of 1996. I was living in Florida I had aspirations to move to Nashville to become an artist but I just knew that it was never going to happen. But, I was an ad exec. I owned my own ad agency, my own marketing firm down in Florida. And, I was actually on a steering committee for a charity event called The Chasco Fiesta. Basically, I was offered to be the opening act for Bryan White and for LeeRoy Parnell. And, I just got lucky. They asked me if I wanted to do it because the band I think had backed out of the gig. The opportunity came up and at first I actually said no... I was scared to death. I said "Are you kidding me? There's no way in the world I could do something like that." Then at the end of the meeting, I told the committee members, "You know what, I will do it." To this day, I tell people I feel like I was spiritually motivated to do it so I said yes and I had about a week and a half to two weeks to plan. I found a local rock-n-roll band in town that played at a local bowling alley. I had some songs that I had written (about 3 of them) and we did about four covers. And, I was actually kind of discovered that night by a booking agent that started booking me for bigger dates. One thing led to another and within a year I was living in Nashville.
Your CD, All That I Am, created so much buzz in the independent country music scene How do you follow up to that?
What I'm trying to do is prove to people that it can work. You don't have to be with a large independent label like a Broken Bow or whatever other ones are left out there. But, the key is persistence and the key is just to keep working. Whatever it is, just share your music with people. That's such a big key. That was one of the things that I wanted to do with the first album was to prove a point. I really did, because everybody that I had talked to told me that there's no way in the world that an Indie artist, especially an artist who basically owns his own label -- There's no way that it can survive. And, basically we proved them wrong. It can work and we're going to prove that in a really big way with our second album with "Stark Ravin' Crazy In Love" - which is our first single. It's really climbing up the charts. Our CD was released on Tuesday. We got word that a number (I mean hundreds of the Wal-Mart stores) that are carrying the CDs have run out -- they've already sold out. That's a really, really good sign. Those are just things that we're working on with the new album. We want to just prove to people, prove to independent artists that it can work, but you have to certainly follow - there's rules, there's things that you have to follow. You have to follow a certain business mold in order to make it happen.
In what ways do you feel you have changed (if any) since your debut CD?
I think vocally, I've matured a lot. It's not that I'm any smarter. I think my voice has matured, I think it's grown. I think my range has gotten a lot better. I think that I sound more like a seasoned professional, a seasoned singer than I was when I first started. Like anybody that's just coming out with a brand new label and they go and do shows, they're probably a little intimidated. You know, thinking more about what people think of them than worrying about really how you sound to yourself. In two years, we did over 350 concert dates and I think that that had a lot to do with it. I really felt like I grew as a vocalist and I also think too that our song selections were a lot more "me" on this album. I'm a big fan in the "glass is half full instead of half empty." I'm such an optimist and I think that all the songs on this album have some kind of message. The only one that doesn't really is the one that I wrote which is "Moonshine Momma" - it's just a fun little honky tonk ditty. For the most part, I think I've just grown all around. I think as a performer, I've matured. And, I think our music has matured as well as far as our song selection.
How would you describe the whole process of recording your new CD, On My Way To You, and what is a typical day in the studio like for you?
Well, the process this time was actually kind of bizarre. My producer, Jan Stolpe moved to LA back in December of 2005. And, we started recording the album in April of 2006, and he started recording the basic tracks out in California, out in LA. He was back in Nashville 3 or 4 times to meet with me and talk about the pre-production of the album. We went to the publishing companies and we met. We sat and we listened to thousands and thousands of songs. So, I was kind of out of the loop from the beginning when he started to record in LA and then after all the basic tracks were laid down, he came back to Nashville for a couple months and that's when I kind of heard everything but we tracked it at a studio in Nashville. Then when all the tracks and everything and the roughs were laid out, I did my vocals at a studio in Leiper's Fork that I actually did my vocal tracking on the first album. And, I really love it. It's an old - not an old house but the studio looks like an old rustic studio in the basement. It's a professional studio but it's just a really personal feel that I really jelled with it on the first album. I found myself in tune with my surroundings and I felt that my vocals turned out pretty good on the first album so I thought it'd be a great place to do our next album. Typical day in the recording studio: well, for the musicians, I basically will just go and listen and kind of give my two cents worth. But, I mean, these guys are the best in the world and I kind of just let them do their own thing. I'll add a little commentary or a little critical critique here or there but I try not to get in the way too much. My day as a vocalist would be: I would show up around 9 o'clock, sit and talk with my producers. I have two producers on this album - Jan Stolpe and Sandy Tipping. And, Sandy did my vocal tracking here in Nashville. I would sit and talk about life and just a couple things get a Mountain Dew, open it up, light my candles and go in the vocal booth, and we'd work 'til about 5 o'clock. So we really had kind of a 9 to 5, with a typical lunch break. It took me four complete days to cut the entire album which I thought was pretty cool that's 15 songs, that's a lot of music so that's a typical day for me.
Where do you find the ideas and inspirations when writing songs?
With every blink of an eye. With every step I take, there's a song. I am a songwriter, but with as busy as we are right now and I'm really guilty... I'm not writing as much as I should right now. I've got a lot of great ideas and I'm just not writing as much. I'm so involved in the record label, I'm so involved with our new TV show which is called Backstage and Backroads. I'm involved in every aspect of what I do on a professional level and it really does take away from the creative process that I really do love and I just haven't been able to write a lot. "Moonshine Momma" was my only write on the new album.. I had about 3 or 4 other songs that when we got to the final process, I just felt like they didn't live up to what I wanted to do on this album. You know, I'm writing a little bit more here and there and I'll force myself to do it.
What goals have you accomplished and what do you still hope to accomplish with your music career?
Well, my first goal was to hang onto my house for the first 3 years (laughs). Like any musician or artist can tell you that's tough to do when you're in this business. But, we've been very fortunate. Goals: I wanted to move people with my music. I wanted to get reactions from our fans that simply said "your song touched my life" or "your song touched my daughter's life and made her a better person" or "your song - "Until You" or "You know Me" is our wedding song." That gives me goose bumps every time I think about it. Somebody feels strong enough for probably the biggest day of their life to play a song that I recorded. That just blows me away. To move people and make my mark in the music industry, I've always wanted to do that. It's not like I've said "I want to belong" or "I want to be a part of the crowd." I don't want to be part of the crowd. But, what I want is I want to be accepted and I want music row (there's two streets there, 16th and 17th Avenue) I want those folks to say, "wow, this guy was really good. He was really good. It was amazing what he did on his own, and kudos." So I guess those are kind of my goals.
You've done a lot of Wal-Mart tours over the years What do you enjoy most about them?
Well, I enjoy the closeness with my fans. I mean, we go in there and we're in a Wal-Mart store and we play. The fans literally can walk up and shake your hand and touch you. And, I love that. That's always been one of my big pet peeves - is to make sure that fans have access to me as a person because I've always said I'm not different that anybody else out there. I have a really wonderful gift of music that the good Lord gave me. And, that doesn't make me any better or any less than anybody else. I'm a person just like they are and I get a real kick out of that. To be able to go into a Wal-Mart store, to play 45 minutes and then to sell CDs and sign autographs for anywhere from an hour to two hours afterwards and then after that go into the tour bus, change into my shorts and walk back in and shop. I just love doing that. Believe it or not, we haven't done a Wal-Mart tour date in over a year waiting for the new album to come out. I don't know how many we're going to be able to do now because of this new TV show. Our schedule is just so booked. We're actually having some issues with some of our tour dates (our regular tour dates) fairs and festivals and unfortunately we can't do them because they're conflicting with some of our tapings for the new show. So, we're just going to see what happens and play it by ear and hope that we get to go back out there to some of the Wal-Marts we visited on the first album and get to sing some songs for them.
How and when did you initially get in touch with "The Sportsman Channel?"
I met Todd Hansen who is the VP. He is one of the founding partners of the Sportsman Channel. I met Todd at a golf event that was a major league baseball event. Of course, our record label is funded by major league ball players. So, that's how I was invited and I actually was paired up with him as a celebrity. They put me with his group. I'm sure you've met people in your life where you meet them, and you talk to them for 5 minutes and you've felt like you've known this person your whole life. Almost like he's your brother or a soul-mate. That's exactly what happened with Todd and I. He's an unbelievable person. He's a fantastic spirit. The guy is one of the most generous giving individuals I've ever met. And, it's just really an honor to be a part of his company, The Sportsman Channel. We just kind of talked afterwards, after the golf event. He loved my music that was the first most important thing. And, we just talked about what I do and I'm a huge outdoorsman. As I grew up, I would fish, I hunt and I love spending time outdoors. So one thing led to another and before you know it, we were offered a chance to host the show Backstage and Backroads.
Can you tell us more about your new show? How often do you record episodes for it?
It all depends. We're filming 13 episodes for this year. They've already broadcast 5. The new episode debuts every Tuesday so a couple nights ago was our new one which was a turkey hunt down in Georgia with Rhett Akins and bunch of country artists Chad Brock, PovertyNeck Hillbillies and those guys. We leave next week, next Thursday. We're doing a Tarpon trip... tarpon fishing down in Boca Grande. And, then we get back I'm here for a couple days and then I fly out to Vancouver for a bear hunt. So, it's probably every other week I would say. And, as the season's go on, like in 2008 they're filming 19 episodes and then the following 3 years on our contract, they're filming 26 episodes a year so literally, we have to do a show every other week. It's pretty crazy how much our work load is. Once again, the concerts and stuff are usually on the weekends. So, It's going to be pretty tough. It's going to be tough to juggle everything but you know what, I'm so blessed to have this opportunity I'm not going to complain about it.
What is your favorite part of the show?
I don't know. I think my favorite part of the show is being able to give back to the outdoors where the last 3 or 4 years I haven't been able to do that because of the music career. I've been so busy and so wrapped up in my music trying to promote the album that it's taken away my love for the outdoors. But now, with the new TV show, that is going to take over and make up for a lot of lost dates and things that we would normally do to promote the album because they push the show at the end of the TV show, they say you can get Daniel Lee's album and this and that and the other thing. That's going to make up for a lot of the promotional things that we're going to miss. So, I think giving back and getting in touch with who I really am as a person. I love the outdoors. I just don't love to hunt and fish that's not why I go outdoors. I go outdoors because I love going outdoors. I love spending time on the water; I love spending time in the woods and even if it's just going out for a day on a kayak and just kayaking across the lake and just enjoy the scenery - that's to me, just as important as going hunting or fishing.
Finally, is there anything you would like to say to all your fans and all our readers?
I love you guys! I do! - you guys have no idea what it means to me when we receive an e-mail or a letter in the mail from a fan who simply says "I bought your album and it's the best country album that I've ever heard" or "I got your first album and I just thought there was no way in the world your new album could be any better and it is." And, just thanks for your support and to tell all your friends about our music. That's a big thing about being an Indie artist -- we rely on our fans. We rely on our fans to go out there and tell their friends about our music. That was one of the big reasons for the success on the first album because we had so many people that did that. And, just keep believing in us and keep spreading the word.
ChinMusic Records chinmusicrecords.com
Added: May 2007
