(pleasant gentle music) - I always leave a guitar out so that I don't have to open a case to pull it out.

It's always accessible to me.

And then what I do is that I just start kind of ad-libbing, just kind of on the spot, just going through some chord changes.

- I'm more of a journeyman, get up every day, don't wait for inspiration.

Just, you know, but show up every day.

That's it.

Show up every day and see what happens.

See what the muse brings.

- My writing process is kind of all over the board.

I don't sit down at a desk or a tree or boulder or creek.

When I try to do those things, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

- They just come to me and usually like a lyrical melody thing will kind of pop in my head and then I'll sit down with my instrument, my guitar, and my ukulele, and kind of find the chords that fit.

- I think someday I'll be that person that is like, oh, I'm writing for an album.

I'm gonna go south or I'm gonna go north and stay in a cabin or stay in a lake house and just be by myself.

I probably should be a person that sits down and has a routine every single day and makes myself write and, you know, have to write all the bad to get the good, but that's not been my experience so far with it.

- The melody always comes first.

And if I'm lucky, I come up with a couple of scratch lyrics and if it's worth writing down, I always have paper and tablets around and I start writing down the melody line and maybe a few lyrics.

(pleasant gentle music) ♪ We had a night that I will never forget ♪ ♪ You stole my heart and swept me away ♪ ♪ Tomorrow hasn't even happened yet ♪ ♪ There's nothing more that I wanna say ♪ ♪ I'm satisfied ♪ ♪ Mm-hmm ♪ ♪ I'm satisfied ♪ ♪ Mm-hmm ♪ ♪ I've been out walking on these city streets ♪ ♪ Following the neon lights ♪ ♪ If there's somewhere you'd like to go where we could meet ♪ ♪ Anywhere, wherever you like ♪ ♪ I'm satisfied ♪ ♪ Mm-hmm ♪ ♪ I'm satisfied ♪ ♪ Mm-hmm ♪ ♪ Now I can't seem to get you outta my head ♪ ♪ Watching your every move ♪ ♪ And I'm hanging onto every word you said ♪ ♪ You inspire me, yes you do ♪ - The first song is called "Satisfied" and it just means those moments in life where you're actually happy, you know?

You're kind of just kind of satiated.

It could be a dinner out with a friend, it could be a a moment that you have with the one that you love, it could just be a quiet Sunday morning where the sun's coming through the window and you just have have those little quick moments where just like everything's okay.

Right now, everything's good.

♪ Oh, yes I will ♪ ♪ Mother nature's humming along ♪ ♪ I'm satisfied ♪ ♪ Mm-hmm ♪ ♪ I'm satisfied ♪ - I had a friend of mine that told me years and years ago, he said, "Daniel, you're driven."

And there's just something, you know, I think we all have a passion.

We all have a reason for living and, you know, what gets us outta bed in the morning that makes us jump.

And, you know, I get the biggest bang outta just getting out and not just writing songs, because that's a very difficult process, even though it's a gift, but getting out and playing in front of public is the most rewarding thing I've ever done.

And it just, there's nothing like it.

♪ I'm satisfied ♪ ♪ I'm satisfied ♪ (pleasant gentle music) - The older I get, the more that I've realized that I've seen friends that got married for the stability of it and ended up, you know, now they're getting divorced.

And I've seen people that were in this really stable job.

Now they're realizing like, "What was I doing with my life?"

And so I think for me, being able to slowly build this career into something that feels like me and that I can wake up every day and do something that I truly love in a way that I love to do it is great.

- There's the craft of music, craft of songwriting, and then there's the mystery of it.

And it's the challenge of writing every day or coming to the table every day, blank piece of paper, and the challenge of making something happen, creating something out nothing.

And part of the mystery is sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

And why does it work when it does work?

And why doesn't it work?

These are all mysteries to do with songwriting.

- A lot of my songwriting is based on snippets of melody that kind of run in my head or something that I say and then I realize that's got like a rhythm to it, a scansion, and I'll kind of play with that rhythm a little bit and see if anything else grows out of it.

More often than not, I'm playing around on the guitar and just kind of popping through some different stuff and this little pattern on the guitar starts up.

♪ Penny on the sidewalk, pick it up ♪ ♪ Dime in my pocket, give it up ♪ ♪ Reaching out to a stranger, lend a hand ♪ ♪ Lend an ear, try to understand ♪ ♪ Mmm ♪ ♪ I've got a secret, small and shiny, like a pearl ♪ ♪ I've got a secret and it's gonna change the world ♪ ♪ Change the world, ah yeah ♪ ♪ Why can't we be friends ♪ ♪ Why can't we be friends ♪ ♪ Change the world ♪ ♪ All my blessings, pack 'em up and let 'em show ♪ ♪ All my (indistinct), pack 'em up and let 'em go ♪ ♪ Negativity's a waste of time ♪ ♪ Positivity will free your mind ♪ ♪ I've got a secret, small and shiny, like a pearl ♪ - I wrote a song based on a book I never read, "The Secret", but I knew the premise of it, the overarching idea of putting good out in the universe and the universe will bring the good back into your life.

So that's the secret, trying to remember that negativity is a waste of time.

You know, giving up a- You know, finding a penny on the floor and picking it up, but when you see somebody in need, you give a dollar back.

It's not this one-to-one kind of give and take.

It's always trying to just give and give and give and remember all the good stuff that we are thankful for.

♪ Penny on the sidewalk, pick it up ♪ ♪ Dime in my pocket, give it up ♪ ♪ Give it up ♪ ♪ Give it up ♪ ♪ Give it up ♪ - I like the tactical experience of being in a studio with a producer, somebody who's kind of guiding the recording.

But you have to have that balance too of making sure your voice is coming through and your ideas to the song are coming through when you're working with a producer who maybe has their own ideas about your music.

I do record on garage band sometimes, but again, I'm real busy, so it's hard to find the time and space to do that.

But that's an excellent way to kind of hash out a song and then add layers to it.

- I find that I like to write lyrics first thing in the morning when the batteries are charged and for some reason very late at night before I crash, before I go to bed, I will give it one last try and usually I come up with something else and then you cheat and you use Wiki Rhymer or some of these things to try to rhyme some things that we all do, some tools to do it to maybe complete a process as well, tie a few things together and you kind of go from there.

- The first song I played today was "Muddy Water" and it was kind of me exploring this idea of like being a dreamer in a small town and whether you're choosing to leave or you're choosing to stay and make your career in that area.

So obviously about myself staying in the quad cities.

Usually people will be like, you know, "Are you moving to Nashville?

Are you moving to New York, LA," all these music hubs, Texas, and kind of why I choose to stay here.

And then some of the other people that I've seen who have stayed out of fear.

So "Muddy Water" kind of explores those themes.

♪ Said I'm drowning ♪ ♪ I said then stand ♪ ♪ Said I'm out of here ♪ ♪ And I said when ♪ ♪ Like a buckle on a bedpost ♪ ♪ You're just hanging around ♪ ♪ And ain't a damn prize to be won in this town ♪ ♪ And it feels deep when the roots get tangled ♪ ♪ And you can't sleep trying to keep the dream alive ♪ ♪ Look around at what's pulling you under ♪ ♪ There you'll land ♪ ♪ Muddy water to make it feel deep ♪ ♪ The muddy water ♪ - For me, music is my literal entire life.

I grew up with a mom that was in a cover band and so some of my earliest memories are at three years old dancing around at the Iowa State Fair and the smoke and lights and secondhand smoke, all of it.

Her parents were very big into country music.

My grandma played steel guitar.

My grandpa played guitar and saxophone.

I think they both did their fair share of singing and probably writing as well.

And it's just definitely this thing that's been passed down in my veins.

My dad loves classic rock so I got a little bit of that in me as well, and I think every good country song kind of rocks and every good rock song has that country songwriting in it.

♪ Muddy water to make it feel deep ♪ ♪ Muddy water (indistinct) ♪ (gentle music) ♪ When you feel resistance start to dim ♪ ♪ It's just a season and you're planting seeds ♪ ♪ Soon you'll learn how the lotus grew the foal ♪ ♪ And from this seed ♪ ♪ Said I'm drowning ♪ ♪ I said then stand ♪ ♪ Said I'm out of here ♪ ♪ And I said when ♪ - My wife is sitting right off camera here, that is a anniversary gift from my wife.

And now I like to tell it that we were out looking for sewing machines.

It's true, we were looking for sewing machines but we walked by this music store first and she saw that guitar sitting in the window and she says, "What's that?"

And two hours later we walked out with it and she bought it for me.

Anniversary gift.

(upbeat music) ♪ DJ was a friend of mine ♪ ♪ He used to sing to me all the time ♪ ♪ There was a reputation but then again ♪ ♪ He used to sing and I'd sing to him ♪ ♪ Well, I'm down here by the river ♪ ♪ I'm sitting beneath the tree ♪ ♪ I'm gonna listen to the river ♪ ♪ The river gonna talk to me ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Summer wind was a friend of mine ♪ ♪ From the ocean to the mountainside ♪ ♪ Used to send the soothing rain ♪ ♪ Now it's flood and hurricane ♪ ♪ Well, I'm down here by the river ♪ ♪ Sitting beneath the tree ♪ ♪ I'm gonna listen to the river ♪ ♪ The river gonna talk to me ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Mother Earth was a friendly face ♪ ♪ With further beauty and patient ways ♪ ♪ Floral seeds from a burlap sack ♪ ♪ You know, we gave to her and she gave back ♪ ♪ Well, I'm down here by the river ♪ ♪ Sitting beneath the tree ♪ - I wrote that song, goodness, a long time ago.

I don't want to date myself.

Many years ago.

It's about our environment, kind of some of the things that maybe it was just a prescient moment I had when I wrote it, you know, again, 20, 30 years ago about what's going on these days.

And so it's, you know, to keep it short, it's about environment and it's about, I guess, climate change and some of those things.

♪ I'm down here by the river ♪ ♪ Sitting beneath the tree ♪ ♪ I'm gonna listen to the river ♪ ♪ The river gonna talk to me ♪ ♪ Well, I'm down here by the river ♪ ♪ Sitting beneath the tree ♪ ♪ I'm gonna listen to the river ♪ ♪ But the river won't talk ♪ ♪ The river won't talk to me ♪ - My most expensive song was a $400 round trip ticket to Arizona to try to get rid of my writer's block.

And when I got back to Minnesota, I wrote the song.

Didn't write it in Arizona, not in the mountains, not looking at the beautiful vistas or anything.

I get back to Minnesota sitting in my room, write the song.

So you just never know.

- Inspiration often hits like when you're trying to go to sleep (laughs).

And I will have to make myself get up and like write down what I was thinking and maybe go grab an instrument to like figure out a couple of chords so it's more ingrained or else it just is is gone.

And I'll wake up in the morning of being like, "Oh I had that really good song idea and I completely forgot it."

(pleasant music) (Bethann vocalizing) ♪ You been thinking it'd be nice ♪ ♪ But you been drinking sometimes I think twice ♪ ♪ How much do you want me, baby ♪ ♪ Can you answer right ♪ ♪ I don't want to be lonely ♪ ♪ But you got to have that answer right ♪ ♪ You want to get some loving ♪ ♪ I can see it in your eyes ♪ ♪ Got a way to go ♪ ♪ You're not one to disguise ♪ ♪ How much do you want me, baby ♪ ♪ Can you answer right ♪ ♪ I don't want to be lonely ♪ ♪ But you got to have that answer right ♪ ♪ You can tell me anything ♪ ♪ I swear I won't bite ♪ ♪ I like to hear your thoughts ♪ ♪ Connect them to mine ♪ ♪ Now are you waiting for me to make that first move ♪ ♪ What do you want me to do ♪ - It is got kind of a poppy feel and I guess the lyrics behind it are kind of fun.

It's about like being out with a person and wanting to have like a good time and like be flirty and cute but the other person's just not being flirty and cute (laughs) and they might actually be getting on your nerves.

So it's kind of about that feeling, which is not very deep, but it's a fun song.

♪ How much do you want me, baby ♪ ♪ Can you answer right ♪ ♪ I don't want to be lonely ♪ ♪ But you got to have that answer right ♪ ♪ How much you want me, but, baby, where's my high ♪ ♪ I don't want to be lonely ♪ ♪ But you got to have that answer right ♪ ♪ You got to have that answer right ♪ ♪ You got to have that answer right ♪ ♪ You got to have that answer right ♪ ♪ Oh, you got to have that answer right ♪ ♪ Oh, you got to have that answer right ♪ ♪ Oh, you got to have that answer right ♪ ♪ I got to have that answer right ♪ ♪ Got to have that answer right ♪ ♪ Got to have that answer right ♪ (gentle music)