David Hanners
From Minnewiki
Biography
David Hanners is a singer-songwriter living in St. Paul. His songs combine rich storytelling, vibrant lyrics and uncomplicated melodies, and his songs feature the kind of observational writing that one might expect from a Pulitizer Prize-winning journalist, which he is. His songs are generally unrelentingly depressing, but his writing has been compared favorably with John Prine, Bill Morrissey and Steve Earle; one reviewer even wrote that he "bears more than a passing resemblance to Neil Young." His album Nothingtown was released in 2004 on the Mercy Recordings label, and was named a Critic's Year-end Top Ten selection by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He's earned a number of songwriting honors. He won the Minnesota Folk Festival's "New Folk" 2000 songwriting competition, and placed second in the prestigious "One Week Live" songwriting competition at Beaner's Central in Duluth in 2006. Most of his songs take place in his native Midwest or Texas, where he lived for 17 years. For subject matter, he mines his own blue-collar small-town background, his two marriages (and two divorces), his politics or his love for studying history. He plays guitar and mandolin.
In November 2006, he participated in Rift Magazine's 36 Hours songwriting contest. Sixteen songwriters were given 36 hours to write a song involving a particular topic; in this case, "public transportation." Hanners' entry, The Ballad of Mohamed Saleh 8/8/03, moved critic Andrea Myers to write: "The show was stopped cold with a chilling song by David Hanners (another of my favorites), who narrated a story about a Somali cab driver who was killed in Minneapolis. The song is a true story, and ends with the somber realization that, "To you I'm just one more Somali / To me, you're just another fare."
He has opened for national touring acts, including folk legends Tom Paxton and Bill Staines, Ellis Paul and others.
Along with fellow singer-songwriter Bernie King, Hanners has put together TVZ: A Tribute to Townes Van Zandt, an annual show at Lee's Liquor Lounge in Minneapolis. The two bring together musicians to perform an evening of music written by, covered by or inspired by the late Van Zandt.
His music has been featured onstage in Laura Lundgren-Smith's "Digging Up the Boys," a play set in the 1930s South about three coal miners trapped underground. The play was entered in the 2007 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, a production of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
In the spring of 2008, Hanners began posting home-made videos of some of his songs on the Internet site YouTube.com.
Bands
Presently, Hanners performs as a solo acoustic act. In the past, he has been a part of the all-electric rock band The Ballet School Troublemakers. Other members of the band included guitarist/songwriter/vocalist Russ Brown, bassist Jackie Crosby and drummer Liz Anderson. He also put together a short-lived band called The OH LONESOME MEs, which included Anderson on drums, Kevin Kadidlo on guitar, Jennifer J. Holt on guitar, banjo and vocals, Ric Lee on violin and Sarita Woods on bass. He recorded a two-song EP with the bluegrass band Pocahontas County, released under the name The Messy Fergusons. He has, on occasion, backed up Brianna Lane on mandolin. In addition, he has performed in two noteworthy jug bands, Goober Sez Hey and The Moriah Go-Getters.
Discography
Solo: Nothingtown released by Mercy Recordings, 2004; Drunks Look After Drunks self-released, 2001
Bands: The Ballet School Troublemakers self-released, 2003; The Messy Fergusons Mercy Recordings, 2002
Compilations: One Week Live Beaner's Central Release, 2004; It's a House of Mercy Christmas Mercy Recordings, 2002
