Dan O'Callaghan

Hello friends, neighbors, devoted fans and casual surfers. My name is Dan O'Callaghan and I've been a guitarist since I was 9. This addictive habit has permeated my very being to such an extent that on those rare occasions when I'm not playing a guitar or listening to guitar music, I'm probably grooving to the rhythms in my own head. It all started when my father suggested I learn some chords on his old Telecaster. Before I even realized it, I had my own acoustic guitar and had fallen deeply under the influence of Steve Kaufman and the seedy underworld of "Flatpicking". Yes, friends, my young mind was captivated by the snappy bass runs and lightning fast licks of Tony Rice, Dan Crary and Doc Watson. Later I would be exposed to younger, more contemporary pickers like Bryan Sutton, Sean Watkins and Luke Bulla, eventually winding up in a deep Norman Blake phase from which I've never fully recovered.
Inevitably, I began teaching and performing to support my guitaristic habits, playing everywhere from tiny restaurants (The Listening Room-Nashville) to historic attractions (Jimmy Driftwood Theater-Mtn View, AR) to huge outdoor festivals between headliners like Tim McGraw and REO Speedwagon (Show Me Music & Arts Fest). I kept company with artists like Steve Mitchell, Route 66, Bradley Matthew, Mount Zion and the Lilly Mountaineers, released two solo CD's (my songs have been used in several syndicated non-musical radio and TV programs), a bluegrass gospel album with Mount Zion and even a guitar method book, by which many other young and impressionable minds have been doomed to a life of guitar playing.
Today, I lead a shameful double life. Five days a week I embody the ideal of domestic bliss with a managerial job, a beautiful wife, and a tidy home with an SUV in the driveway. On weekends I frequently fall back into the old habits, playing music as a sideman, band member or a solo artist. These solo concerts generally include potentially lethal amounts of flatpicked guitar music, but are balanced for safety's sake with a goodly dose of hymns, celtic aires, fingerstyle pieces, cartoon/game themes and sometimes long, anything-goes jams. I've also begun devoting many of my evenings to transcribing solos for aspiring guitarists and maintaining my tongue-in-cheek music oriented blog "The Philosophical Flatpicker".
As a teacher, performer, transcriber, writer, blogger, and all-around lunatic, you can see what an effect the guitar's had on my life. Whether at a festival, coffeehouse, church, convention hall, living room or the dank back allies of the World Wide Web, I tend to corrupt those around me with an infectious love for guitar music. You’ve been warned, so listen at your own risk.
Best wishes-Dan O'Callaghan