We were lucky to catch up with Dan Petti recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’ve been playing guitar, various stringed instruments, and piano for most of my life. I’ve always been most interested in songwriting specifically, and expressing myself through music. I’ve been in Rock, Metal, and Jazz bands, but I found my biggest passion in Country and Folk. I am always learning and trying to get better, and collaborating and co-writing with others is extremely important to me. I started this current project back in 2020, and have released 8 songs up till now. I am currently working on an EP album that has some meaningful songs in the collection. I wrote them all to have a rootsy sound, and they are all inspired by nature. One aspect of my craft that I am trying to learn more about to add to my creativity is music production. I love working with various producers and sound engineers, but I have always been passionate about doing it myself and I just was always intimidated by my lack of skill with technology. During the pandemic, I finally started learning how to record and produce, and I fell in love with it. It has also added to my songwriting because now I am thinking like a producer, whereas before, I was just thinking like a musician. That’s the thing I love most about music, you are never done learning.

Dan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a Country singer-songwriter from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I have been playing and writing music in many different genres for most of my life. I have worked with great mentors in Ottawa, and experienced 3 successful trips to Nashville, Tennessee, where I got to meet with many diverse songwriters, artists, and publishers. I currently write with many songwriters and artists all over North America. My music is a blend of emotional ballads, upbeat sing-alongs, and everything in between. I incorporate driving acoustic guitar picking, with lots of banjo, mandolin, and fiddle, to create a modern, yet rootsy, take on today’s Canadian Country music. I love putting on an energetic live show with my band, but I especially love playing solo acoustic, allowing the audience to experience the songs and lyrics at a raw, stripped down, and emotional level.

I have many original songs available on all streaming platforms, and am planning to release my first EP album later in 2023. I am also available for playing events, shows, markets, pubs, charity events, festivals, and anything like that, all over the Ottawa area. I am most proud of the fact that I dedicated most of my 20s to a teaching career, but restarted my music career again in my 30s during the pandemic, and have been able to keep growing it despite the tough times we have had. I am truly loving every minute of it and having fun again.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

It isn’t a specific situation, but at one point in the winter of 2020, I was completely burnt out from work, completely lost my voice and songwriting spark, and wasn’t sure what to do. My employer gave me an opportunity to go part-time, so I could pursue music, and it completely changed my life. I never thought I would be able to dedicate this amount of time to music ever again, especially I was entering my 30s, thinking of a new house, family, etc… I felt so fulfilled finally having music be this dominant in my life again, and having friends, family members, and strangers listen, comment, and remember my songs has been one of the best feelings I’ve ever had. These songs are the story of my life, and my deepest thoughts and feelings, and just being able to share that again after being away from music for so long, has brought me a lot of joy. Going part-time is not for everyone, and it took a lot of financial sacrifice, but I’d tell anyone who is feeling similar feelings to what I felt to try and do what makes them happy!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I’ve had several injuries in my life, which have always been able to derail my music. My back and neck issues during my university music degree forced me to cancel my final grad recital. I was devastated. I felt like a failure. I did an alternate performance for a jury and still graduated with high standing, but it took me a long time to get over this disappointment, I just was not able to practice and put the proper amount of time in to do music properly. A couple years later, my band at the time broke up, and I didn’t try to continue it with other people due to the pain I was still in, as well as trying to start a separate career at that point. I rehabbed several injuries during most of my 20’s and it took a long time to finally be comfortable playing guitar again consistently. Songwriting gave me some hope, since it didn’t require hours of guitar playing a day. After my first trip to Nashville, I fell in love again, and have been devoted to music again ever since.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://danpetti.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danpettimusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danpettimusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@danpettimusic2014/videos

Image Credits
Rob Aaron Morgan Sam Yeldon Eric Eggleston Alex Sarna