Dan Beaulaurier

Dan Beaulaurier

Dan Beaulaurier is a singer, songwriter and guitarist who writes and performs music drawing on rock, surf-pop and western styles. He uses a Gibson J200 and plays and records with a range of instruments, including autoharps, yucums, guitars and kazoos, making original music on an 8-track recorder. His songs often focus on sun and surf, colours, love and long-forgotten cowboys.

Background and early writing

He grows up just south of San Francisco, in a town in California’s coastal foothills, before later living in London. He makes his first recording at the age of five and writes his first song at eight. He begins playing guitar, singing and writing songs after starting a band in the early 1990s.

Recording output and influences

Over the years, Beaulaurier writes hundreds of songs and records eight CDs. His self-produced releases include Honky-Tonk Pajamas, which centres on vintage cowboy-themed material with a Route 66 feel; Four Months in 2000, a collection of songs he writes in Scotland; and Summer and Beaches and Stuff, which brings together beach rhythms, surfabilly riffs and occasional spooky melodies. His influences include Neil Young, Nada Surf, Daniel Lanois, Willie Nelson and Hank Williams.

Land and live work

While in Edinburgh, Scotland, he forms the band Land. The group has four vocalists and is known for layered harmonies that draw comparisons with Beta Band and Buffalo Springfield. Land plays weekly at the Black Bull Tavern, O'Neill's and Q-Bar, appears at the Fringe Festival and receives national radio exposure in Scotland before the band ends. Beaulaurier later performs solo and with guitarist, singer and songwriter Grace Solero at London venues including the 12 Bar Club, the Dublin Castle and The Enterprise. He also busks at St. Martin’s Court and Leicester Square tube station, supporting himself through regular gigs and street performance.