About Dave
If you're a member of the press, a free-lance blogger, or a curious music fan, this page will probably answer a lot of your questions. If you have questions this page doesn't answer, though, you can also email Dave directly at the following address:
Recent Dave News
The 11/22/17 edition of the County Courier (Broome County, NY) featured a story about Dave's YouTube video If I Was You, and you can view that article here. Earlier in the year, the 4/5/17 edition of the Vestal Town Crier also included a write-up about the video, and you can view that one here.
Dave's EPK
Dave's press kit includes a bio page, a one sheet for Dave's latest CD Who Said What, and 3 photos. Click here to download the EPK as a zip file. If you prefer, you can view and/or download the bio page separately, as well as the Who Said What one sheet.
Some Photos
Here are the pictures that are included in the press kit. If you'd prefer to view and/or download them separately, just click on the photo for a 300 DPI version, or click the text below the photo for your choice of size.
Dave's Bio - The Short Version
Folk, rock, blues and country mark the 4 main points of Dave's musical compass, but the listener might pick up a hint of gospel, jazz or even classical flavor here and there. Dave Elder is a dynamic and engaging singer-songwriter-performer with a unique point of view.
Dave's Bio - The Even Shorter Version
"Clever original songs, country pickin' and sly wit" -Godfrey Daniels coffeehouse, Bethlehem, PA
Dave's Bio - The Long Version
The progressive politics that have always shaped a portion of Dave Elder's performing and recording sets now take center stage as his response to the darker events taking place on the larger stage. While a lighter mood animated his musical efforts in the 1990s, as showcased by his 1996 CD Country Drivin' that featured songs like As Long as Merle is Still Haggard and Driving in My Sleep Again, the turn towards prolonged war and lean economic times at the opening years of the new millenium fueled the heavier and more urgent sense of purpose that finds voice in such songs as The Sago Mine, about the West Virginia mining tragedy of early 2006, Better Them Than Us, which concerns the increasingly-militaristic tac of U.S. foreign policy, and Blackwater Boys, which warns of the dangers posed by a private army paid with public dollars, as evidenced by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
One element that makes Dave Elder a unique performer and singer-songwriter is his standard-tuning slide guitar technique which, to the best of his knowledge, no other slide player uses, and which he developed out of the need to add variety to long solo sets without major retuning between songs. Elder's musical signature also includes an open-ended songwriting method that often steps outside musical phrasing conventions -- instead of 8 bars, Dave's next musical phrase might be 7, or 9, whatever feels right. For lyrics, Elder prefers the role of song painter rather than song poet, favoring reflective imagery over clever word-play.
As a performer, Dave Elder brings to the stage a variety of musical influences and styles, with a dynamic range that moves seamlessly from the fast and loud, percussive, flat-picked blues-rock jump to the soft and low, contemplative, finger-picked folk-ballad mode, sometimes adding harmonica to the mix, and keyboards as well. On that quieter side, Dave once again evolved a finger-picking style all his own, based not on standard patterns but simply on whatever sounds good, and that phrase neatly sums up his whole approach -- whatever sounds good.
A Few Good Quotes
Dave's music is off-beat, very eclectic, folksy, delivered with a wonderful sense of timing and a great sense of humor.
-Chris Poh, from radio station WDVR
Nice country-blues picking and strong, evocative imagery. This reviewer was intrigued by these numbers.
-Victory Review
Guitar playing and harp blowing that's just out of this world.
-Fast Folk
Some people write good lyrics. Dave writes great lyrics!
-Chris Hastings of Prince Studios
Very original. Dave has his own sense of rhythm.
-Trailside Coffeehouse, Milton, MA
I like the loose-limbed energy.
-John Nicholas of Cape-Cod -based folk duo Dreamwork
...catchy shuffles...strong compositions include Sweet Rainy-day Friend and Natural-Born Misfit.
-Dirty Linen
I'll be watching for Dave in Billboard.
-NJ songwriter Joe Canzano
Contact Dave
Once again, here's Dave's email address:
