Dan Lawson

“A rose is a rose is a rose,” was written in 1913 by Gertrude Stein and is interpreted as “things are what they are”: a statement of the law of identity. Simply using the name of a thing already involves the emotions and imagery associated with it. Today, in similar terms, Dan Lawson is an awesome axeman, the perfect plank spanker, a great guitarsonist; and when you hear his name, stupendous six-string  solos come to mind.  Dan was born on November 16, 1956 in Baltimore, Maryland, and his Uncle, Roy Parks, played guitar for a while with country music star Tex Ritter. “The first live band I ever saw was Led Zeppelin in Baltimore when I was thirteen years old. I was hooked!!!” His tone and playing has a metal edge and Lawson literates: “I would have to say Jeff Beck is my strongest influence.” His sound is a combination of funk, blues, rock and attitude. He is a frequent performer at many major music festivals throughout North America and in Canada including their Ottawa Music Festival and the Mont-Tremblant Music Festival in Montreal. The Dan Lawson Band is a crowd favorite during the Sturgis, Laconia, Myrtle Beach and Daytona bike weeks and once played the National Anthem for former Presidential candidate John McCain in 2008. “Our shows range from a forty five minute set opening for Blue Öyster Cult at The Cabot Theater in Beverly, MA. to a ninety minute set at The Sturgis Motor Cycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota to a one hundred and twenty minute set at the prestigious Mont-Tremblant Music Festival in Montreal. We love to play! The size of the venue never crosses our mind. Twenty people or twenty thousand, we’ve played them all with the same approach and it never gets old!!!” From 1978 through 1981, Dan‘s lead licks led the band Stoned Oak, then for a decade, from 1982 until 1992, he had a huge following in The Keep. From 1992 through 1995 Lawson was busy in Surgery Break, then from 1996 til 2000 he powered the Nathalie Cote Band and from 2001 until the present this fabulous fret man has fronted The Dan Lawson Band and become one of the North Shore’s most popular bands and biggest draws. His discography includes his first release in 2000: Bill In Hel’s Kitchen (Uncle Bob Records), In The Nick Of Time (Plymouth Rock Records) from 2004, Dan Lawson Band (Straw House Records) in 2006, and his most recent self- released Soldiers Of Fortune,  which received Lime Light Magazine’s 2015 Album Of The Year. For the future Dan plans on writing, recording and touring.

John Mayall

Mark Farner (Grand Funk Railroad)

Dee Snider and Mark Mendoza (Twisted Sister)

Matt “Guitar” Murphy (The Blues Brothers)

David Lee Roth (Van Halen)

Chris “Whipper” Layton (Double Trouble)

Ronnie Earl (The Broadcasters)

The Four Tops

Jr. Walker’s All-Stars

The Contours

Bad Company

Styx

Weepin’ Willie Robinson

R.E.O. Speedwagon

Charlie Farren (The Joe Perry Project, Farrenheit)

Danny “D.K.” Klein (The J.Geils Band)

Lou Gramm (Foreigner)

Rick Derringer

Pat Travers

The Tubes

John Waite

Vanilla Fudge

Blue Öyster Cult

Molly Hatchet

John Cafferty and Beaver Brown

Johnny and Edgar Winter

Eddie Money

.38 Special

John Kay and Steppenwolf

Roger Earl and Foghat

ZZ Top