Dayna Kurtz is an American
singer/songwriter
A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk-acoustic tradition, although this role has transmuted t ...
. Her music is a blend of jazz, folk, pop and blues. She began her career in 1989, touring small stages up and down the East Coast, promoting her work with a sparse but haunting self-recorded demo tape. She was named Female Songwriter of the Year in 1997 by the
National Academy of Songwriters.
Norah Jones
Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and as of 2012, has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. ''Billboard'' named her the ...
(who duets on
Duke Ellington's "I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good" on Kurtz's 2004 album "Beautiful Yesterday") and
Bonnie Raitt have raved about Kurtz in interviews, and she's performed on the radio shows ''
World Cafe'', ''
Mountain Stage'' and
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
's ''
Morning Edition
''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 A ...
'' and ''
Tell Me More
''Tell Me More'' was a National Public Radio interview show that was hosted by journalist Michel Martin. ''Tell Me More'' was first introduced online in December 2006 through an "open piloting" program called "Rough Cuts." Martin and the show's ...
''.
She has toured as a supporting act with
Elvis Costello,
Richard Thompson,
Mavis Staples,
Dr. John
Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B.
Active as a session musician from ...
,
B.B. King
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...
,
Richie Havens,
Rufus Wainwright
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded 10 studio albums and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical operas and set ...
,
Keren Ann,
Chris Whitley
Christopher Becker Whitley (August 31, 1960 – November 20, 2005) was an American blues/rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. During his 25-year career he released more than a dozen albums, had two songs in the top 50 of the Billboard mains ...
, and
The Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama, also billed as The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama, is an American Gospel music, gospel group. The group was founded in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama, and has featured a ch ...
.
Kurtz has recorded two ''Secret Canon'' albums, collecting obscure
standards and blues and R&B gems originally recorded in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
Critic James Reed of the
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
wrote in a review of ''Beautiful Yesterday'' that "there's no logical reason why singer-songwriter Dayna Kurtz is not a full-blown star".
In 2015 Dayna Kurtz released Rise and Fall, which features “You’re Not What I Needed (But You’re All That I Want),” which she called her "''Dan Penn''" song.
[from an interview o]
Americana Music Show #250
published June 9, 2015.
The Here Volume 1 and 2 albums are a compilation of great songs by Dayna, which were recorded during a live tour in the Netherlands in 2016. Dayna is accompanied by guitaris
Robert Maché
In December 2017 Dayna started a new Blues dance band calle
Lulu and the Broadsides Next to Dayna the other band members are
James SingletonCarlo Nuccio Robert Mache and Glenn Hartman. In 2019 the band released its first EP.
Discography
Albums
* 1997 - ''Otherwise Luscious Life - live'' / (Deebles Music - OUT OF PRINT)
* 2002 - ''Postcards From Downtown'' / (Kismet Records, US) - featuring
ETHEL
Ethel (also '' æthel'') is an Old English word meaning "noble", today often used as a feminine given name.
Etymology and historic usage
The word means ''æthel'' "noble".
It is frequently attested as the first element in Anglo-Saxon names, b ...
* 2003 - ''Love Gets in the Way'' / CD Single (Munich Records/Europe)
* 2003 - ''Postcards From Amsterdam'' (Live in Concert DVD) / (Munich Records, Europe, Kismet, USA)
* 2004 - ''Beautiful Yesterday'' / (Kismet Records, US) - featuring ETHEL
* 2004 - ''The Beautiful Yesterday Sessions'' LIMITED EDITION EP / (Kismet Records US, online only)
* 2006 - ''Nola'' / (Munich Records/Europe)
* 2006 - ''Another Black Feather'' / (Kismet Records US)
* 2009 - ''american standard'' / (Munich Records, Europe, Kismet, USA)
* 2010 - ''For the Love of Hazel: Songs for Hazel Dickens'' - Dayna Kurtz & Mamie Minch (6 tracks)
* 2012 - ''Secret Canon Vol. 1''
* 2013 - ''Secret Canon Vol. 2''
* 2015 - ''Rise and Fall''
*2017 - ''Here Volume 1''
*2018 - ''Here Volume 2''
Other contributions
*''
Live at the World Café: Vol. 15 - Handcrafted'' (2002, World Café) - "Love Gets in the Way"
*''107.1 KGSR Radio Austin - Broadcasts Vol.10'' (2002) - "Love Gets in the Way"
References
External links
Official WebsiteInterview with Dayna Kurtz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurtz, Dayna
American women singer-songwriters
American folk singers
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
21st-century American women