Dan O'Connell, known as "olddude" here on Mudcat, has cut a CD of ten of his own songs, and he sent me a copy after I had sent him mine. The guy can play the guitar and sing--and he can sure as hell write songs. Here's part of a PM I sent him after I received the CD:


Dan, on Thursdays I do a music therapy thing at a center for brain injured adults across
the bay from me (I'm in El Cerrito, it's in Marin County--California, of course) and it takes
me about a half hour to drive there from home. Today I popped your CD in the car player
and listened to it (actually, on the trip over, the trip back, taking my dogs to the dog park
and bringing them home), and I've now heard it all the way through three times. My
reactions:

First, "Lightning Road"--I love this song. I wish it were longer, another verse--perhaps
telling about a narrow escape from the law or from a near fatal crash while evading the
sheriff and deputy (naming them was a great touch) or the revenue agents.

Another one I love unreservedly is "Katie's Song," and here and in "My Baby's Smile," your
guitar playing really comes to life. [I continued for another few paragraphs}


The song "Memorial Day," lyrics and a link to a recording of which he posted in a thread here a few days ago aren't on the CD but I'm adding it to my iTunes recording of the CD]:

http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=121050

The linked thread contains a link to his MySpace page with eight of the songs from the CD plus "Memorial Day." The CD contains 10 songs, two of which aren't on his MySpace page.

Check out the link and the tunes.

Charles