Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Christian values and basic lessons are taught to a backdrop of upbeat drums and driven guitars that will keep kids moving. Dancing , prancing and clapping are musts as Nashville local Cowboy Dan sings energetically about helping others, being bold and changing the world – all in the name of the Lord. Eager young voices accompany him with occasional shouts of “Amen!” Apart from happily singing that Jesus is your friend, there are other humorous and unique aspects of this CD, such as a list of things that kids can’t do in comparison with important things they can. This lighthearted but insightful collection of songs will brighten up every listener.”All of Me Review - Williamson Parent Magazine
childrensmusic.org
November 2003
Cowboy Dan Harrell’s All of Me CD has won two awards from the prestigious www.childrensmusic.org web site. The eleven song disc was named Best Education/ Seasonal/ Religious Recording for Younger Children and Best Educational/ Seasonal/ Religious Recording for Preschoolers. All of Me was released in May, 2003, along with Life is for Learning.
“It is an honor to be recognized by children and their parents,” said Cowboy Dan. “I’m happy to see www.childrensmusic.org promote positive messages and it’s a pleasure to be included with the winners in all of the categories.”
All of the songs on All of Me were written by Cowboy Dan. With an entertaining presentation, excellent production and musicianship, the CD illustrates Harrell’s strong faith. Appropriate for parents and children of all ages, the album also includes upbeat and mellow material.
WWW.Childrensmusic.org is operated by Pickleberry Pie, Inc., a public charity for children and families. The seventeen year old organization promotes children’s’ music by providing concerts for children in hospitals nationwide and radio programming geared toward young people. Its “Pickleberry Pie” public radio program won the Gold Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1991 and is heard twice daily on SiriusRadio nationwide.
- childrensmusic.org
Nashville, TN - Children’s entertainer Cowboy Dan Harrell’s All of Me CD has won two awards from the ChildrensMusic.org web site. The eleven song disc was named Best Education/Seasonal/Religious Recording for Younger Children and Best Educational/Seasonal/Religious Recording for Preschoolers. All of Me was released in May, 2003, along with another album, Life is for Learning.
“It is an honor to be recognized by children and their parents,” said Cowboy Dan. “I’m happy to see www.childrensmusic.org promote positive messages and it’s a pleasure to be included with the winners in all of the categories.”
All of the songs on All of Me were written by Cowboy Dan. With an entertaining presentation, excellent production and musicianship, the CD illustrates Harrell’s strong faith. Appropriate for parents and children of all ages, the album also includes upbeat and mellow material.
Stone by Stone, Blow the Trumpets, Seeking First the Kingdom and All of Me explore the importance of building a life based on strong faith while Big Enough, No Fishin’ and Under Construction offer a light-hearted look at staying true to one’s spirituality. About Put on the Whole Armor of God, Harrell said, “This is God’s way of saying, ‘Cowboy Up!’” The sensitive Dear God is about the importance of prayer and My Body is the Temple of God is Cowboy Dan’s way to illustrate the concept of “just say no” in his unique way.
WWW.Childrensmusic.org is operated by Pickleberry Pie, Inc., a public charity for children and families. The seventeen year old organization promotes children’s’ music by providing concerts for children in hospitals nationwide and radio programming geared toward young people. Its “Pickleberry Pie” public radio program won the Gold Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1991 and is heard twice daily on SiriusRadio nationwide. - CA Staff
- Christian Activities Magazine
Discography
Yee Haw Says It All
Life Is For Learning
All Of Me
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Cowboy Dan
Award-winning children’s entertainer Cowboy Dan is the real deal. Born and raised in the ranch country of West Texas, he sites Odessa, Abilene, Lubbock, San Angelo and Sanderson as his stomping grounds. After earning a degree in Agriculture at Abilene Christian University, music-rich Austin was Dan Harrell’s home until he moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1990. Since that time, he has toured nationwide. His 2003 All of Me CD was named Best Educational/Seasonal/Religious Recording for both younger children and preschoolers by the prestigious www.childrensmusic.org web site. Life is for Learning, also released in 2003, has received positive critical acclaim. These recent achievements follow a 1998 Nashville Music Award for his Yee Haw Says It All album.
“Writing and performing children’s music was not something I planned on doing when I came to town,” says Cowboy Dan. “It kinda pursued me. Now, I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
While working for the Music City Cattle Exchange, Cowboy Dan was approached by the Tennessee Beef Industry Council to develop an assembly program for elementary age students. Since 1996, he has performed his high energy show for over 450,000 students, parents and teachers. In addition to performing throughout Tennessee, he has also been a featured attraction at major events such as the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, the Texas State Fair and the National Cattlemen’s Association Convention in Chicago.
Cowboy Dan has attracted media attention from major television stations and newspapers in Houston, Nashville, Memphis, Dallas and other markets. The Tennessean, Nashville’s daily newspaper, said Cowboy Dan “…takes his listeners on a ride along the trails of good health, fairness, self-esteem and Western traditions.” The Odessa American declared, “His songs are not only for children…,” referring to the fact that adults enjoy his well-written, positive songs.
Aside from laughter and music, Cowboy Dan also experienced deep sadness when Lyndee, his wife of fourteen years, died suddenly from a heart attack in 2000, leaving him a single father of three girls and a nine day old baby boy.
“Our whole lives changed that instant,” he says, “and they will never be the same.”
With the help and prayers of his church family, Cowboy Dan took time off to raise his children. Really coming to understand faith, Dan tried to find blessings amid life’s tragedies. One such blessing was Joy Mercy, a single mother whose husband had been killed in an airplane accident.
“At first,” Dan says, “we would get together as families knowing it would help our kids to be around others their own age who had lost a parent.”
Their relationship grew and a very bright ending to a sad story happened when Joy and Dan decided to marry and blend their families.
“He has four and I have three,” Joy says of their children. “You do the math!”
Now back in the saddle, Cowboy Dan hopes to find a new professional direction that will match his new personal beginning. With the strength of his family and the bright young faces in his audience to help him, Cowboy Dan will saddle up to bring his music and his message to many more fans.
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