Dan Hislop

Mostly I just love to listen to music. It vibes my workday, fills my weekends, and transforms mere car rides into road trips.

But music is so much more. It's a creative outlet like no other, packing feelings into sprawling containers, just waiting to release the emotions in our bodies. It's some kind of native language whose magic works whether I understand it or not. Below are some notes on how I've connected with music so far. Image: watercolor of my favorite guitar, a Taylor 810 WMB

I’ve made just enough music to appreciate how hard it is to do well. A student of songwriting, over the years I’d collected just enough songs for an album, and recorded a full length album in 2006 called Big Empty House. It was so fun - gathering musical friends to play, working with a killer producer, choosing the CD artwork and layout, even a CD release party : ) See the original website here.

I learned a lot from the process, about which styles work “for me”, where in the musical landscape I work best (writing, collaborating) and where to outsource (singing or solos). I love looking back at the risk I took to make this CD and that it exists as a sort of “photo album” for that time in my life. Try the song The Specifics:

• Listen to the album on Spotify

Where I finally come clean about all the music I listened to growing up, as told by my embarrassing cassette closet, or

Read about the time music got the best of me while trying to hold it together in the front row in The Music of Fireflies

• My embarrassing cassette closet

When I think about it, nearly all of my faves were in small venues with artists I really connect with (Saya Gray at the Roxy) or felt like I was discovering in real time (Dizzy at the Echo), or were just plain fun (Rayland Baxter at Soho SB). This photo shown is from one of my top 5 all-time concerts - Little Simz at the Novo. Big venue shows are great too! (Coldplay at the Rose Bowl, U2 at Metlife), but something about an intimate venue makes the connection greater.

I don't always post or write about concerts but here's a link to a faves list from 2024:

• One year's shows