Daniel Romano: A Young Man With An Old Soul And Some Nice Suits

Classic country music, the stuff of AM radio and the Grand Ole Opry, is a study in contrasts. There’s glitz and grit, reveling and wallowing, wretchedness and showmanship. Country music’s greats wore their battered hearts on sequined sleeves. From Bakersfield to Galveston, the legends traded their tragicomic highs and lows for gold records and white Cadillacs. But that was then; the days of Buckaroos, Nudie suits, and various Hanks are over, save for the museum displays. To quote a George Jones title track, “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes?”

Enter Daniel Romano, a songwriter who channels country crooning and hard-luck storytelling with cinematic fidelity. While references to marquee names like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Merle Haggard are apparent in Romano’s music, the obvious influences certainly don’t demystify his talent. His take on the golden age of country music is much more than a revivalist mission; Romano works with equal parts authenticity and creativity, and his musical world is rich with archetypes and archrivals, wry observations, and earnest confessions.