Dan Tyminski
Encyclopedia
Daniel John "Dan" Tyminski (born June 20, 1967 in Rutland, Vermont) is a bluegrass
composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist. He is a member of the band Alison Krauss and Union Station
and has released two solo albums, Carry Me Across the Mountain (2000), on the Doobie Shea Records label, and Wheels (2008), on the Rounder Records
label.
He is best known for his updated version of the song "Man of Constant Sorrow
," which was featured in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?
and won the 2001 CMA
award for best single as well as a Grammy Award
for best Country Collaboration with Vocals (along with Harley Allen
and Pat Enright, filling out the vocals for the movie's Soggy Bottom Boys). In total, he has won 10 Grammy awards for solo and collaborative projects.
and plays a bluegrass style that blends traditional and pop traditions. Before becoming a member of Union Station in 1994, Tyminski played mandolin
and sang in the Lonesome River Band. Though Tyminski's love and feel for traditional bluegrass didn't come from growing up in the southern Appalachians, he absorbed and learned the music just the same. He credits his brother Stan with getting him hooked on the guitar and mandolin at the age of 6. While Stan was in the Navy and home on leave, he left his mandolin with his younger brother.
While in high school Dan and his brother formed a band called Green Mountain Bluegrass. Dan played the banjo
with that band for nearly five years. In fact, Dan says that he was primarily a banjo player from the time he was twelve until he was in his early twenties. When he was twenty-one, Dan was hired to play mandolin in the Lonesome River Band. When asked how he landed that job, Dan said, "It was a word-of-mouth thing. We ended up playing some shows at the same venue and when the position came up for a musician, one of the guys in the band recommended to Tim (Austin) that they give me a call." Dan played the mandolin with the Lonesome River Band for about five years.
.
Tyminski attributes his love for traditional bluegrass to such musicians and singers as Del McCoury
, Ricky Skaggs
, Tony Rice
, Larry Sparks
and Jimmy Martin
.
Dan Tyminski plays Martin
and Bourgeois
guitars and Sim Daley mandolins. In July 2009 the Martin Guitar Company issued as part of their Custom Artist Series a D28 Dreadnought acoustic guitar in recognition of Dan's life devoted to performing bluegrass and old-time music. The guitar named Martin D-28 Dan Tyminski Custom Edition, is issued with its own distinctive details to appeal to flatpickers. For many years Dan's primary guitar has been a wellworn 1946 Martin D-28.
Dan is married to Elise with three children, Kathryn, Chris, and John.
Dan Tyminski and Ron Block
played together at the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival. They performed "I am a Man of Constant Sorrow" and "Road to Nash Vegas".
While Alison Krauss and Union Station is on hiatus due to Alison Krauss' tour with Robert Plant
, Dan Tyminski has now formed his own group, the Dan Tyminski Band. The ensemble features Tyminski on guitar, Ron Stewart on banjo, Adam Steffey on mandolin, Justin Moses on fiddle and dobro, and Barry Bales
on upright bass. An album, entitled Wheels, was released on Rounder Records in June 2008.
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist. He is a member of the band Alison Krauss and Union Station
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
and has released two solo albums, Carry Me Across the Mountain (2000), on the Doobie Shea Records label, and Wheels (2008), on the Rounder Records
Rounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
label.
He is best known for his updated version of the song "Man of Constant Sorrow
Man of Constant Sorrow
"Man of Constant Sorrow" is a traditional American folk song first recorded by Dick Burnett, a partially blind fiddler from Kentucky. The song was originally recorded by Burnett as "Farewell Song" printed in a Richard Burnett songbook, c. 1913. An early version was recorded by Emry Arthur in 1928...
," which was featured in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely...
and won the 2001 CMA
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
award for best single as well as a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for best Country Collaboration with Vocals (along with Harley Allen
Harley Allen
Harley Lee Allen was an American bluegrass and country singer and songwriter.-Early life:He was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of the bluegrass performer Red Allen.-Film career:...
and Pat Enright, filling out the vocals for the movie's Soggy Bottom Boys). In total, he has won 10 Grammy awards for solo and collaborative projects.
Early life
Tyminski was born June 20, 1967 in Rutland, VermontVermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
and plays a bluegrass style that blends traditional and pop traditions. Before becoming a member of Union Station in 1994, Tyminski played mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
and sang in the Lonesome River Band. Though Tyminski's love and feel for traditional bluegrass didn't come from growing up in the southern Appalachians, he absorbed and learned the music just the same. He credits his brother Stan with getting him hooked on the guitar and mandolin at the age of 6. While Stan was in the Navy and home on leave, he left his mandolin with his younger brother.
While in high school Dan and his brother formed a band called Green Mountain Bluegrass. Dan played the banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
with that band for nearly five years. In fact, Dan says that he was primarily a banjo player from the time he was twelve until he was in his early twenties. When he was twenty-one, Dan was hired to play mandolin in the Lonesome River Band. When asked how he landed that job, Dan said, "It was a word-of-mouth thing. We ended up playing some shows at the same venue and when the position came up for a musician, one of the guys in the band recommended to Tim (Austin) that they give me a call." Dan played the mandolin with the Lonesome River Band for about five years.
Musical career
While he was still with the Lonesome River Band, Dan got a call from Alison KraussAlison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
.
Tyminski attributes his love for traditional bluegrass to such musicians and singers as Del McCoury
Del McCoury
Delano Floyd McCoury is an American bluegrass musician. As leader of the Del McCoury Band, he plays guitar and sings lead vocals along with his two sons, Ronnie McCoury and Rob McCoury, who play mandolin and banjo respectively...
, Ricky Skaggs
Ricky Skaggs
Rickie Lee "Ricky" Skaggs is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, and banjo.-Early career:...
, Tony Rice
Tony Rice
Tony Rice is an American acoustic guitarist and bluegrass musician. He is considered one of the most influential acoustic guitar players in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and acoustic jazz.Rice spans the range of acoustic music, from traditional bluegrass to jazz-influenced New...
, Larry Sparks
Larry Sparks
Larry Sparks is a Bluegrass singer and guitarist. He was the winner of the 2004 and 2005 International Bluegrass Music Association Male Vocalist of the Year Award. 2005, won IBMA for Album of the Year and Recorded Event of the Year for his album "40," celebrating his 40th year in bluegrass...
and Jimmy Martin
Jimmy Martin
Jimmy Martin was an American bluegrass musician, known as the "King of Bluegrass".-Early years:Born James H. Martin in Sneedville, Tennessee. Jimmy Martin was born into the hard farming life of rural East Tennessee. He grew up near Sneedville, singing in church and with friends from surrounding...
.
Dan Tyminski plays Martin
C. F. Martin & Company
C.F. Martin & Company is a US guitar manufacturer established in 1833 by Christian Frederick Martin. Martin is highly regarded for its steel-string guitars, and is a leading mass manufacturer of flattop acoustics with models that retail for thousands of dollars and vintage instruments that often...
and Bourgeois
Dana Bourgeois
Dana Bourgeois is a luthier who heads a small guitar shop, Pantheon Guitars, in Lewiston, Maine.He makes traditionally styled acoustic guitars used in bluegrass and other acoustic music genres....
guitars and Sim Daley mandolins. In July 2009 the Martin Guitar Company issued as part of their Custom Artist Series a D28 Dreadnought acoustic guitar in recognition of Dan's life devoted to performing bluegrass and old-time music. The guitar named Martin D-28 Dan Tyminski Custom Edition, is issued with its own distinctive details to appeal to flatpickers. For many years Dan's primary guitar has been a wellworn 1946 Martin D-28.
Dan is married to Elise with three children, Kathryn, Chris, and John.
Dan Tyminski and Ron Block
Ron Block
Ronald Frankin "Ron" Block is an American bluegrass and alternative country musician, mainly playing the banjo and the guitar, singing, and writing gospel music.-Biography:...
played together at the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival. They performed "I am a Man of Constant Sorrow" and "Road to Nash Vegas".
While Alison Krauss and Union Station is on hiatus due to Alison Krauss' tour with Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
, Dan Tyminski has now formed his own group, the Dan Tyminski Band. The ensemble features Tyminski on guitar, Ron Stewart on banjo, Adam Steffey on mandolin, Justin Moses on fiddle and dobro, and Barry Bales
Barry Bales
Barry Turner Bales is the bass player and harmony vocalist for Alison Krauss and Union Station....
on upright bass. An album, entitled Wheels, was released on Rounder Records in June 2008.
Albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Grass | US Country | US Heat Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
||
| Carry Me Across the Mountain |
|
— | — | — |
| Wheels |
Rounder Records Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students... |
1 | 32 | 10 |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||
External links
- The Dan Tyminski Band
- Dan Tyminski Interview with CountryMusicPride.com CountryMusicPride.com