DAN ZANES

Here are two things you should know right away about Dan Zanes, two things that set him apart from the huge and festive field of people who have in the past few years begun making music for families and people of all ages in a way that is, frankly, changing the face of America, or the sound of it, at least. First, he is making homemade family music and encouraging similar behaviors in friends and neighbors. Second, he is the guy who is always interested in singing along with people who live near him in Brooklyn, New York, where, even if you don't try, you end up running into people on the streets and stoops who have musical connections to pretty much everywhere in the world. Which brings us to his mission, if you can call it a mission, a mission that might be described like this: Dan is introducing his musical friends to his neighborhood friends and then showing everybody not just that they, yes, can play together but that they can also feel pretty good while doing so. In this sense, Dan is a twenty-first century version of the guy who used to conduct the town band from the gazebo, though in lieu of a gazebo he's playing places like Carnegie Hall and The Melbourne International Arts Festival, where no matter how you say it good music is good. He is a ringmaster, bringing new songs into the world and reconnecting people to songs that have always been there, and still are- it's just that people forgot about them.

Take, for example, Dan Zanes and Friends' Catch That Train!, the 2007 Grammy Award winner for Best Musical Album for Children (co-released with Starbucks/Hear Music). It is the one CD in America today that brings together the Kronos Quartet, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Father Goose, Zanes' mother-in-law, the children of South Africa's Agape Orphanage to sing Zulu folk songs, an old labor organizing tune, a song about the joys of farming the English countryside, and of course a few train songs- all in an instrumental mix that highlights cuatros and lap steels and does not in any way discourage the use of the trombone.

One of Zanes' favorite recording projects is Nueva York, or what he is often heard calling his "pro-immigration CD." While the debate about who is eligible to live in the United States rages on, Zanes has been having a rocking time with new musical friends from the Latino world, celebrating some of the vibrant culture that comes with immigration. The result: a collection of songs from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and other parts of the Spanish-speaking Americas which was released in the summer of 2008.

Keeping things all in the family, Zanes also spent some time in 2007 with bandmate Father Goose (a.k.a. Wayne Rhoden) and longtime recording ally Rob Friedman co-producing It's a Bam Bam Diddly!- a musical memoir of sorts, sounding very much like the most incredible block party stretching from Jamaica to Brooklyn and spilling out into neighborhoods around the globe, filled with Caribbean flavors and a cavalcade of great guests including Sister Carol, Sheryl Crow, Wayne Smith, Ansel Meditation, and Zanes himself.

Zanes' latest album, The Welcome Table: Songs of Inspiration, Mystery and Good Times is a collection of old and (mostly) new DZAF recordings of tunes drawn primarily from North American gospel traditions put together to help create awareness for The New Sanctuary Movement- a coalition of interfaith religious leaders and participating congregations called by their faith to respond actively and publicly to the suffering of our immigrant brothers and sisters living in the United States.

Lately, Zanes has been spending his spare time with Spanish dictionaries listening to salsa or merengue or anything along those lines, writing songs for films like Wonderful World directed by Josh Goldin (and even making a cameo appearance here and there like he did in Wonderful World and Revolutionary Road directed by Sam Mendes) and brushing up on Broadway tunes as his next recording project takes shape. In the meantime, The Fine Friends Are Here!, Zanes and Friends' first DVD in four years- featuring a complete live concert and 3 new music videos along with a bonus audio disc with four brand new Zanes solo songs- was released this fall on Razor and Tie.

For the record, Zanes was born in Exeter, New Hampshire in 1961. He was a member of the Del Fuegos from the beginning to the end of the eighties, and with them made The Longest Day (1984), Boston, Mass (1985), Stand Up (1987), Smoking in the Fields (1989), and the hit single, "Don't Run Wild." In 1994, he released a solo CD, Cool Down Time, shortly after which he moved to Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and daughter, where he then released Rocket Ship Beach (2000), an immediate hit with families around America, as well as with The New York Times Magazine, which said, "Zanes' kids music works because it is not kids music; it's just music- music that's unsanitized, unpasteurized, that's organic even." His next CD, Family Dance (2001) was comprised of songs that are difficult not to dance to, and featured Loudon Wainwright III and Roseanne Cash and a lot of dancing that you can't actually see but you can imagine. Next in the Festival Five family series came Night Time! (2002)- featuring collaborations with Aimee Mann and Lou Reed- followed by the Grammy-nominated House Party (2003), a rambunctious 20-song collection that includes Deborah Harry, Bob Weir, and Philip Glass, as well as the Rubi Theater Company and Rankin Don (a.k.a. Father Goose). Sea Music, a collection of maritime songs that was the first CD in the Festival Five Folk Series, was cited in Rolling Stone's Hot Issue in the category of Hot Maritime Sounds. The next CD in the folk series- Parades and Panoramas: 25 Songs Collected by Carl Sandburg for the American Songbag- is the disc on which Zanes' scruffy troupe of musicians dragged the poet's 1927 collection of songs kicking and screaming into this century, with traditional instruments, with tuba-driven electric guitars, with whatever it takes. And while no one was looking Zanes co-authored two picture book collaborations with the artist Donald Saaf: Jump Up! and Hello Hello (Little, Brown and Company Books), and appeared in the Dan Zanes and Friends concert DVD, All Around the Kitchen! (2005), recorded at the Knitting Factory in New York City.

COLIN BROOKS (drums) started out playing piano at the age of 5. By age 7 he was jamming with his father, a self-taught electric guitar player, on the drums. By the age of 14, he was drumming in a punk rock band with some friends in Little Rock, Arkansas called the NUMBSKULZ. After playing around the United States with the NUMBSKULZ and several other Little Rock based bands (Substance, 2 Minutes Hate, ho-hum, and The Big Cats), he headed for New York City to join Skeleton Key. After that band toured Europe with PRIMUS, Colin was offered the drum seat with New Zealand singer Bic Runga, who he toured Australia and New Zealand with. Upon returning to New York he began playing with local singers Serena Jost and Dana Fuchs, while drumming on jingles, and playing in the off-Broadway musical Betty Rules. He also joined a Brooklyn-based band called Sea Ray. Sea Ray toured the US and Canada extensively and played many New York area shows. The group disbanded in January 2005. Colin next went to Montreal to record with The Stills. His drumming can currently be heard on their latest album Without Feathers. He has most recently finished an album with his long-time band in Little Rock, The Big Cats. For on-line information go to maxrecordings.com, and searaymusic.com

SONIA DE LOS SANTOS (guitar, mandolin, vocals) was born in Monterrey, Mexico. She has received lyrics and interpretation awards for her compositions on Dos Niñas Mas at the National Festival de la Cancion of the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. As an actress, Sonia has toured nationally in Mexico with Jesus Christ Superstar. Ms. De los Santos and has played "Hodl" in Fiddler On The Roof, "Lucy Harris" in Jekyll & Hyde and "Connie" in A Chorus Line. She was the lead singer in Revolution at the Joyce Theater (NYC) in 2007. During her time as lead singer of the rock band Esphera, Sonia took on the role of composer for their debut album Reflection (2001). In 2002, Sonia joined Shot, a pop group out of her home town. Sonia is an alum of Circle in the Square Theater School (NYC) holds a BA in Communications and Mass Media from the Instituto Tecnologico Y De Estudios Superiores De Monterrey.

JOHN FOTI (accordion) was born in West Caldwell, NJ. His first musical experience was figuring out the Sesame Street theme song at a young age. Inspired by his father and older sister, John Foti went on to take piano lessons through college-even when some kids said it "wasn't cool" to play piano. John thought it was cool and kept playing. Speaking of cool, John is thrilled to be part of Dan Zanes and Friends- playing perhaps the coolest instrument this side of the Mississippi- the accordion! Hobbies include thinking, writing music and poetry, sleeping, worrying about what the Yankees score is, running, and watching Jim Henson's Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas. You can say hello to John at www.myspace.com/johnfoti

SASKIA LANE (bass) was born and raised in San Francisco. Saskia picked up her first stringed instrument at the age of four: the violin. Quickly realizing that the fiddle was far too small for such a big personality, Miss Lane switched to the stand-up bass the day she turned eleven. Though she could not yet lift it without help, she embarked on an intensive course of study and has been at it ever since. In 1997, she jumped the train to New York City where she earned her Masters Degree in Double Bass Performance from The Julliard School. The Manhattan-based musician performs throughout the tri-state area with a variety of jazz, pop, and classical artists. Saskia has also been active in education and outreach, working as a teaching artist for the 92nd Street Y, and performing in the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series. Saskia's television credits include a national commercial for Chili's Restaurants and appearances on The Discovery Channel, The Food Network, Fuse TV, and CBS Evening News, and can be seen in the movie Mona Lisa Smiles, featuring Julia Roberts. Her discography includes recordings with Nicole Paiement, featuring the work of Lou Harrison (New Albion Records), The Gothem Ensemble (Albany Records), along with three albums and a concert DVD (Eastway Records) with her critically-acclaimed cocktail pop quartet The Lascivious Biddies.

ELENA MOON PARK (violin) hails from Oak Ridge, TN. She began playing the violin and dancing at a young age. She played classical music for many years, until college drew her attention to traveling to far off places, going on long hiking trips, learning music and dance from other countries, and studying American history. After her adventures, she was anxious to play the violin again and make fun, spontaneous music with many different musicians. Elena lived in the hills of Tennessee and the flatlands of Chicago before proudly calling Brooklyn, NY her home. Her interests include dancing, singing, playing the ukelele, helping to achieve equitable development in urban America, supporting the arts, and Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come." She is very excited to be playing with Dan Zanes and Friends.