The music business is tough. You could be the most talented singer/songwriter in the world and still fail to make it without some marketing and a little bit of luck. Social media helps with the marketing part, making it easier to reach a wider audience but, nevertheless, it still requires time and effort and not everybody is going to enjoy that work. It’s really hard to do something you hate, every day, when all you want to do is pick up your guitar and make some good music.
Dana Knox hates marketing and doesn’t even have a social media presence, but he surely got talent. He self-released a really good album in 2016 titled One Long Song that nobody listened to, mostly because few people were aware of it. Still, I guess that working so hard on an album only to get basically no traction can break you. When Dana reached out to me to make me aware of his music, I could sense that he was about to give up. He didn’t even think I would actually be willing to feature it here, he just decided to give it a try. I’m glad he did though because I really liked what I found.
Dana‘s album is available, for now, on some of the major streaming platforms. It consists mostly of his raspy voice and acoustic guitar-based melodies that can transport you immediately to the Great Plains of Montana, where he lives. Granted, it’s not the type of music that would top music charts constantly, but it’s good music that plenty of people enjoy, enough to make it feasible to do that for a living. Dana‘s style reminds me a bit of Frightened Rabbits had they been from the American Midwest rather than Scotland; and the song I decided to feature here today, An Old Song, actually reminds me a lot of early Counting Crows.
Unfortunately, An Old Song is not available on Youtube (the video below is a beautiful cover Dana did of You Are My Sunshine), but you can listen to it on the mixtapes at the bottom of this page. Definitely, check Dana‘s music out, not only to show him some support, but also because it’s pretty damn good.
Featured on the following mixtapes:
Everything 
Alternative
I went to Spotify and listened to his album. Some really nice songs.
Yeah, that’s my point. My favorite ones were An Old Song and We’ll Try Harder. Thanks for giving Dana a chance!
I am very intrigued by this article, I know of Dana Knox but was unaware of ‘One Long Song’ until now. Dana Knox’s story here reminds me a bit of South African composer Liam Pitcher. He has released beautiful music, both in the electronic and classical genres, but most people I know have never heard his music. That saddens me greatly because just like Dana Knox, Liam Pitcher is a phenomenal musician the world is missing out on.
Hi Robin, thank you for taking the time to add a comment. I had a quick look at the links you provided and I can tell that Liam Pitcher is a very talented musician, but I’d say it’s even harder for classical musicians to get recognition as the target audience is even smaller. In any case, I totally agree with you on that it is sad that there are plenty of talented musicians out there, like Dana Knox and Liam Pitcher, that the world is missing out on.