Dean Driver

I was the shy kid – the one who was too afraid to go up to the counter and ask for a packet of ketchup. I would never have imagined myself even speaking to a large group of people, much less performing original songs in before hundreds of people. But something fundamentally shifted inside of me a dozen years ago. Now, rather suddenly, I find myself with a lot to say about the world, and I’m no longer afraid to say it. Though I’ve played guitar since my teens, I never really sat down and figured it all out until around 2008, after our kids were grown and I had a little more space in my life. Now I can finally reconstruct the songs that I’ve always heard playing in my head. It’s a huge thrill for me to have acquired this ability at the ripe old age of 50. This is all wonderfully new to me. When I write songs and play them, I swear I feel like I’m 24. So my music has a unique flavor. I bring this youthful, never-done-this-before energy to my songs, but I write from the perspective of someone who has been around the block a few times. I’ve raised a family, I’ve seen relationships come and go, I’ve seen parts of the world I never expected to see, and I’m in many ways much more awake than I’ve ever been. I’m actually thankful that music came to me so late in life, because now I have much bigger palette of experience to draw from. My genre, you ask? I truly have no idea. I’m simply playing what I hear in my head, and each song is as individual as an embryo. I guess I tend to construct them in the styles that I’ve experienced, so you’ll hear some Beatle influences, some Dylan, some Prine, Simon, and even a little classical. Cliff Eberhardt is my singer-songwriter hero, and if I’m guilty of mimicking anyone, it’s him. I dig distinctive melodies, and I love songs with honest, heartfelt lyrics that engage and surprise, so I focus on those aspects when I’m putting songs together. I’m drawn to songs with big ideas behind them, but that don’t take themselves too seriously. Mostly, I see the inspiration to write a song as a precious gift, and I feel obliged to honor that gift and make the song happen. My hope for each song is that it reaches people, allows them to see things from a different perspective, and maybe makes the world a little less lonely.

Greensboro, NC