Artist Information
Instrumentation
Dan Weldon: Vocals, Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Resonator Guitars, Mandolin, Porchboard
Biography
Weldon has earned the title of journeyman roots musician. Over the years, as both soloist and sideman, he has rocked readily, serenaded sweet and lowdown, and twanged with the toughest.
Weldon possesses a soulful singing voice and a warm stage manner that captivates his audiences. He is a gifted songwriter that also has the deft ability to give classic tunes fresh and thoughtful treatment. In addition, Weldon plays an astonishing variety of acoustic and electric guitar styles, picks a mean mandolin, and supplies a steady backbeat courtesy of his foot-operated Porchboard.
Weldon was born in the 1950s to a musically talented Long Island family. Moving west as a teenager, he joined the Air Force with an eye toward earning a pharmacy degree. While in college, Weldon got the opportunity to tour the world with the USO courtesy of the Weber State University band.
Returning to Northern Utah, Weldon honed his chops with any number of regional rock and country outfits. Along the way, he added his own splash of rock spice to the potent cowboy country jam that defined the Ogden Sound. In the meantime, Weldon built a singer/songwriter solo career playing intimate venues throughout the region. He has hosted both acoustic open mikes and electric jam sessions for a good part of the last decade.
In 2001, Weldon decided to leave the day job behind and fully devoted his energies to making music. He has never looked back. From 2001 to present he has gone from playing a few nights a month to over 300 gigs a year. Additionally Weldon has earned yearly solo slots at the Park City Arts Festival, Ogden's Talent In The Park and Tunes at Noon series, Salt Lake City's Utah Art Festival, and has become one of Snowbird Ski Resort's premier solo artists.
In 2004, Weldon won the prestigiuos Stephen Talkhouse Singer/Songwriter contest in Amagansset, New York, and got to perform a headline set there. In 2005 Weldon was picked from over 100 applicants as one of the 6 finalists in the Telluride Music Festival Acoustic Blues contest.
Though Weldon has built a strong regional following as a soloist, he has also recently caused a stir partnering with colorful blues impresario and harmonicist Brad Wheeler. The duo was christened the Porch Pounders by no less than Telecaster-master and former member of Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airman, Bill Kirchen. In true P.T. Barnum fashion, Wheeler soon added the tongue-in-cheek superlative Legendary to the handle.
In 2004, the duo entered the Salt Lake City Weeklys Showdown to SXSW, a contest that annually sends a band to Austins SXSW music conference. Like a couple of roots rocking R&B Cinderellas, they beat all comers to win the whole shooting match. In 2005 they also won The Salt Lake City Weekly Slammy Award for Best Blues Band. That year the duo wowed the Snowbird Blues Festival opening for Buddy Guy, opened for Bo Didley, and was a main performer for Salt Lake City's Gallivan Blues and Brews Festival and Brown Bag Concert Series. In 2006 they went on to open for the Five Blind Boys from Alabama, Roy Rogers, Hans Olson, Koko Taylor, and were main performers at The legendary Cedar City "Groovefest" roots music festival.
Weldon released his first solo CD, Voice From the Blue, in 2002. Just prior to leaving for the SXSW Conference, The Legendary Porch Pounders gave their fans a taste to take home with 2004s A Little Gift Authorized Bootlegs. In the fall of 2005, Weldon releases his second solo effort, Soul of a Man. In 2006 the LPP's recorded another album with Lafeyette "Shorty" Gilbert (longtime Howlin Wolf bass man). Currently Dan is recording a solo album of obscure yet influential covers and a handful of original songs, some written years ago. All these songs will be recorded on his resonator guitar and porchboard.
In order to record his own material, and also to help other artists realize their projects, Weldon designs and operates a professional-grade studio in Odgens historic Kiesel Building. He also hosts an annual Acoustic Review at the Ogden Amphitheater to help up-and-coming artists polish their performance skills and gain recognition.
Weldon is a performer who gives all, whether it be to a handful of intimates in a local watering whole, or for thousands at a premier festival. He is certain to be long remembered as one of the Intermountain Wests finest troubadours.
(Linda Brady : music writer Ogden Standard Examiner and author of the fine blues novel "Lonestar Ice And Fire" )
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