Soundoff: Danny Speer finds ‘Fun’ on his latest CD

Written by

Jim Catalano

Danny Speer has been long been one of Ithaca’s most prolific songwriters — according to his count, he’s penned about 600 songs since 1966. Since moving here in the mid-1970s, Speer has performed with various groups, including the Peabody Band, Sinbad and the Pirates, Circle D and Speer Specker Henrie.

One thing that Speer hasn’t done much in recent years is to perform on stage. But that will change Sunday night when he hosts a show at the Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts to celebrate the release of his new CD, “Where Were You When The Fun Began?”

Speer describes the new album as “kind of a variety show,” with reggae, jazz and soul among the new flavors added to his traditional country influences. Along with his core band of drummer Mark Sammo, bassist Walt Lorenzut and singers Amara Steinkraus and Donna Dennis, Speer enlisted guest musicians such as Chris White (cello), Rick Huyge and David Plaine (saxophones), Mike Keenan, (guitar), Richie Stearns (banjo) and Max Buckholtz (violin) to give the songs additional sonic textures. “The orchestration gives it a much bigger language,” he said. (In a tragic note, Dennis, who sang the alto parts on the album, died in a car accident in Montana in March; she had gone west to visit her ailing mother.)

Speer and Sammo produced the album at Sammo’s Matrix Studios. “Mark is a school-bus driver, so we’d work 10 a.m. to noon quite a bit — we did maybe 100 sessions over the course of three years,” Speer said. “Then we’d work on Saturdays for five or six hours.”

Thematically, Speer said the album is “sort of my history of love — it’s a love letter to the baby boomers.” Nine of the 12 songs are about love.

There’s also an astrological theme to the album. “The way the songs are laid out, the 12 songs correspond to the 12 signs of the zodiac,” Speer explained. Artist “Harvey Gitlin and I have both studied astrology all of our lives, and just for fun we decided to come up with an alternative zodiac. It’s a subtle element that I’m proud of.” Gitlin created illustrations to go with each song; they’ll be available as a PDF on Speer’s website, www.dannyspeer.com.