Reeder is someone who is squarely in the American tradition of independence and self-imposed isolation, yet who wants to share these qualities with others, because he wants to connect with his fellow isolates, to let us know we’re not alone. I don’t see how anyone could fail to be moved by the somber beauty of the one-man doo-wop harmonies on “You Should Have Wrote a Book.” And when he sings, on the new album, “I don’t wanna be on no TV if you know what I mean” (from “Just Leave Me Alone Today”), we do know what he means. Dan Reeder is, in the art and music worlds, a plucky survivor, but he sure as hell doesn’t want to go on that damn TV show Survivor, or join the band Survivor, for that matter. No “Eye of the Tiger” for him: more like the eye and ear of the beholder--that’s who he’s aiming his music, his art, at. So, to get more portentous than this man ever will: Behold, Dan Reeder. Now watch him draw himself a beer and listen to him make himself some music.
--Ken Tucker is Editor-At-Large for Entertainment Weekly and music critic for National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air with Terry Gross.”
